By Trevor Hughes……
New Number Plates
You may have read, or heard recently, that plans for introducing the new number plates displaying the blue left sided flash, which are due to come into force on the 31st January next year, are to be abolished.
Well, I had a meeting with the Chief Constable last week in order to ascertain if this was true. After our discussion, I can confirm that the new plates are coming into force on the 31st of January next year and anyone not displaying them on their vehicle will be stopped by his officers and duly fined.
Third Party Vehicle Insurance
The Government have increased third party vehicle insurance at a rate of approximately 40TL per policy and is chargeable by all insurance companies and agents. The reason is due to the falling value of the Turkish Lira making the threshold limits unable to cope with the rising cost of repair. If the upper limit does not compete with the rising repair cost, you, the guilty driver may have to fund the shortfall yourself, e.g. if the maximum limit is 75,000TL [which it was], but the cost of repair is 90,000TL, your insurance will pay the 75,000 and the shortfall of 15,000TL will be down to you to pay. The maximum payment of 112,500TL is in place for your protection! This should cover the increase in the number of expensive/luxury cars on our roads now.
Foreign Driving Licence
One of our readers was stopped by the police for vehicle paperwork checking, last week. He duly produced his UK licence, but was informed the licence did not comply with the Traffic Laws here, because he did not own a TRNC licence. He was duly fined 900TL and because his attitude towards the officer was respectful, the officer did not impound his car, which he was legally entitled to do, because he was not insured to drive the car and should not have been on the highway in the first place.
Capital Bank (Insurance section) in Alsancak are offering their services for first time driving licence applications. Their full service, which some driving schools are charging up to 550TL per application is on offer for only 80TL, which is considerably cheaper. If you want them to fully explain what is needed for a successful application, just pop in and Mary will go through everything with you and provide this service for you if you so wish, or you can of course apply yourself but will need to make the journey at least twice to Lefkosa and back.
Take note: the criteria for photographs to be acceptable are:
- The correct passport size
- To be taken against a plain, light-coloured background
- Contain no other objects or people
- Not have any shadows on your face or behind you
- To be taken in the last month
- Do not wear sunglasses or tinted glasses. If you wear glasses that you cannot take off, your eyes must be visible without any glare or reflections.
TRNC Driving Licence
There are a number of driving licences from around the world which are not accepted here when processing your application for a TRNC driving licence, e.g. middle eastern countries such as the Arabic States. So, if your foreign driving licence is not accepted here when applying for a TRNC licence, the only way to remedy this is to take a driving test here.
Temporary Residence Stamp
The cost of a postage stamp when applying for a Temporary Residence has gone up to 18.5TL.
Money Exchange in Alsancak
The Moonstar Money exchange outlet on the main road in Alsancak is manned by Guney who is extremely helpful, very accommodating and always jovial. It’s nice to see this sort of customer service and well worth a mention.
Tax Office Relocation
Here we go again, the “rumour mill” is in full swing spreading mis-information. This time it’s about the Girne vehicle taxation department moving into the old CTA building in Lefkosa, this is completely untrue!!!
The services provided by the Girne Tax office will remain unchanged for residents residing in their catchment area. The driving related service provided by the Lefkosa office will transfer into the old CTA offices when refurbishment has been completed.
Bayram Holidays
Banks, Government Offices, and Local Government offices will be closed on Wednesday 1st of August, and from Monday 20th to Friday the 24th for the Kurban Celebrations.
For any further information please email me through the contact box below.
[contact-form-7 id=”605543″ title=”Contact form 2″]
