THE Kingston Traffic Court on Monday issued 818 warrants for the arrest of traffic offenders who were ticketed by the police, but failed to turn up in court to answer to the charges.

At the same time, the court collected $261,000 in fines from 125 traffic violators who appeared before Resident Magistrate Andrea Thomas.

Most of the fines were for speeding, while others were fined for failure to have seat belts affixed to their vehicles, disobeying traffic signals, careless driving, and parking in no parking zones.

RM Thomas issued a strong warning to persons who turned up late for court that such behaviour would not be tolerated, while repeat offenders were warned that they faced having their licences suspended.

Clerk of Court Nicole McClymont told the Observer after the sitting that she was not surprised at the number of people who disobeyed the order to attend court.

“.It happens every time, therefore, the power of the court is to issue disobedience warrants for the police to arrest and take the lawbreakers before the court,” McClymont said.

However, Senior Superintendent Elan Powell, the head of the Police Traffic Department, said the number of warrants issued by the court Monday was unusual. “We have never had so many (warrants) issued in one day. That is unusual.”

“This is only adding to the over 60,000 warrants of arrest for traffic offenders we have in our possession to execute, but we are unable to find these people,” said Powell, explaining that some motorists gave wrong addresses, or have moved from the addresses given to the police.

Traffic tickets, when issued, allow the offender to pay a fine at the nearest tax collectorate within 14 days. If the fine is not paid within that time, the tax office informs the court and the offender is expected to appear in court.

Devon Nixon, a minibus driver who had a number of traffic charges against him, earned the wrath of RM Thomas, who assumed duties at the traffic court three weeks ago.

Nixon was fined $37,000 after pleading guilty to driving without seatbelt, taking up passengers and stopping at places other than a bus stop, having no fire extinguisher, failure to obey police, operating contrary to his licence and careless driving.

Another defendant, Beverly Burrell, pleaded guilty to speeding, but requested that she be sentenced to do community work as she did not have the money to pay the fine. She was fined $2,000 and given a week to pay.