January 23, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 13, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: The Spanish embassy has sought the help of city police to trace a vehicle which it said was using the duplicate number plate of one of its diplomats’ car, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

The sources said the number - CD-45-02 - was originally allotted to a sports utility Prado vehicle under the use of one of the diplomats. However, an embassy official had seen a Toyota Hiace bearing the same number, they added.

The embassy lodged a complaint with the Diplomatic Protection Department for tracing the vehicle and taking legal action against the person.

The police cordoned off the capital city to trace the vehicle but were without any success till Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad Traffic Police have decided to take action against people using diplomatic number plates in their private cars.

According to the law, only diplomats are authorised to use the number plates bearing CD alphabets, while the local staff of embassies could use only X alphabet registration plates.

Senior superintendent of traffic police Mohammad Zubair Hashmi told Dawn that the decision had been taken after receiving complaints about use of diplomats’ number plates by local people and staff of embassies.

Meanwhile, during a campaign launched against non-pattern number plates since January 16, the traffic police fined 2,913 vehicles Rs300 each.

According to the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, the size of alphabets in the number plate should be 2-1/2 inches and that of the number 3-1/2 inches. The size of front plate should be 12x4 inches and that of the back plate 12x6 inches.