The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is demanding a review of a key provision in the Road Traffic Regulations, 2026 (L.I. 2519) that empowers authorities to auction vehicles left at designated holding areas after 21 days.
While the union fully backs the swift removal of broken-down vehicles from the roads, it warns that auctioning them so quickly risks heavy financial losses for commercial transport operators.
Speaking to Accra-based Citi News, GPRTU Deputy Public Relations Officer Samuel Amoah argued that vehicle owners should be allowed to retrieve their vehicles once they settle the required towing and storage fees.
He insisted that no operator would willingly abandon a vehicle after it has been towed to a safe location.
“In the previous LI, it was stated that when your vehicle breaks down in the city, you have 30 minutes to tow it, and when it breaks down on the highway, you have one hour to tow it off the road.
“Now they said immediately, Yes, we agree with that. But one area we don’t support is auctioning the vehicle after 21 days,” he said.
Mr Amoah urged the authorities to rethink the auction clause and instead grant operators more time to reclaim their vehicles after settling the applicable charges.
“We think they have to take a second look at the word auction because nobody will intentionally decide to leave his vehicle on the road. If it is being towed to a safer place, we think that the number of days the vehicle will spend there, if you have a fee that the owner will pay, that is fine. But to auction the vehicle, we think that will not help our business,” he added.
The GPRTU maintains that the goal of keeping the roads free of broken-down vehicles can still be achieved without putting operators at risk of permanently losing their vehicles through auction.
Also read:
