Lawyer and content creator of TheLawgh on TikTok, Yudah Brown has clarified the rights of police in Ghana regarding vehicle seizures.
He asserts that a police officer cannot impound your vehicle simply for not having your driver’s license on hand. Instead, officers can take your details and file a case against you.
‘’A police in Ghana has no right to seize or impound your vehicle because you do not have your driver’s license at the moment, all the police can do is to take your details and file a case against you. No law gives them the right to do that’’.
According to him the Regulation 47 of the Road Traffic Act, if a police officer demands your license, you must present it immediately.
However, sub-regulation three allows officers to request the license within 24 hours, leaving it to their discretion.
If the demand is immediate, you must comply; if it’s within 24 hours, you have time to produce it.
‘’When the police demands that you produce it within 24 hours. You must produce your license within 24 hours. Now here’s where the problem is, So if the police say I should produce my license within 24 hours or immediately, what do I do? Would the police have to take my vehicle? No, all the police would have to do is to rely on section 53 of act which is the road traffic act’’.
Brown emphasizes that if you’re stopped and given 24 hours to show your license, the police can only take your details and not your vehicle. Failure to produce your license in that timeframe would lead to a case being filed against you for driving without one.
In situations where the police demand your license immediately, they still cannot seize your vehicle; instead, they would file a case against you or request that you accompany them to the station to address the charge.
The Police has no right to seize or impound your vehicle for failure to produce your license.
This is what the law says pic.twitter.com/OBvqpUGfNA
— TheLaw_Gh (@YudahBrown) October 17, 2024
