Section 123A

Without affecting section 123, an employee of the Authority or an agent authorised by the Authority may remove any stationary vehicle from an expressway.

Any person who refuses to allow the employee or agent to exercise his or her power under subsection (1) or who obstructs the exercise of the power by the employee or agent shall be guilty of an offence.

An employee or authorised agent of the Authority who has removed any vehicle from an expressway under subsection (1) must take the vehicle to a parking place that is near to that part of the expressway from which the vehicle was removed.

A vehicle which has been removed from an expressway and taken to a parking place under this section must remain at the parking place at the risk of the owner of the vehicle, and the owner is responsible for any parking charges incurred in respect of that vehicle while it remains at that parking place.

An employee or authorised agent of the Authority who has removed a vehicle from an expressway and taken it to a parking place under this section must with all reasonable despatch give to the owner of the vehicle (if the owner’s name and address are known) written notice of the removal and the location of the parking place to which the vehicle has been taken, and must in the notice inform the owner of the procedure by which the owner may claim the vehicle.

Any person who without the authority of an employee of the Authority removes any vehicle from a parking place to which it has been taken under subsection (2) or otherwise tampers with the vehicle shall be guilty of an offence.

Where a vehicle has been removed from an expressway and taken to a parking place under this section, neither the Authority nor any of its employees or authorised agents who effected the removal shall be liable for any damage to or loss of the vehicle or the contents thereof not caused wilfully or negligently by the Authority or by any of its employees or authorised agents in the exercise of their powers under this section or by any person acting under the direction of any employee or authorised agent of the Authority.

The costs and expenses (as determined by the Authority) of removing any vehicle and of taking the vehicle to a parking place under this section must be borne by the owner of the vehicle and if the costs and expenses are not paid upon demand therefor, they may be recovered from the owner of the vehicle as a debt due to the Authority.

If a vehicle is not claimed by its owner within one month of the date on which it was taken to a parking place under subsection (2), the Authority, after giving one month’s notice in the Gazette of its intention to do so, may sell the vehicle by public auction or otherwise dispose of the vehicle.

The proceeds (if any) from the sale or disposal of any vehicle under subsection (8) must be applied in payment of —

The Authority may waive, in whole or in part, the costs and expenses of the removal of a vehicle mentioned in subsection (7).

Except as provided in subsection (1), any person who, without the prior authorisation of the Authority, tows any stationary vehicle from a tunnel forming part of an expressway shall be guilty of an offence.

In this section —

“expressway” means any road which is prescribed by the Minister by order in the Gazette to be an expressway for the purposes of this section;

“parking charges” means the charges which are fixed or deemed fixed under section 9 of the Parking Places Act 1974 as being payable by the owner of a vehicle for the use of any parking place.