Driver of blue-plate car picking up leader's daughter at airport fined 2.5 million VND

Driver Pham Hoai Son, 52 years old, was fined 2.5 million VND and had his driver's license revoked for 2 months for using his horn and emergency lights while driving a blue-plate car of the Ha Tinh Women's Union.

"This vehicle is not authorized to install a priority signal device," the Traffic Police Department, Ha Tinh Provincial Police, said on February 9.

According to the authorities, at 1:30 p.m. on February 2, while driving an official car with license plate 38A-066.88 on National Highway 1 through Thach Long Commune, Thach Ha District, driver Son used his horn and emergency lights. This action violated Clause 4, Article 5, Decree 100/2019, which regulates administrative sanctions in the fields of maritime, road traffic, railways, and civil aviation.

Working with the police, driver Son admitted to the violation. Authorities also confiscated the siren and emergency lights attached to this official vehicle.

Driver Son (right corner) works with traffic police. Photo: Provided by police — Driver Son (right corner) works with traffic police. Photo: *Provided by police*

Previously, on February 2, the official car with license plate 38A-066.88 mentioned above carried Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Ha, President of the Women's Union of Ha Tinh province, to wish a happy new year to veteran female cadres in Nghe An , then went to Vinh airport to pick up Ms. Ha's daughter from Ho Chi Minh City to return to her hometown.

Because the plane was late, the blue-plate car had to park near the exit on the second floor of the airport terminal for nearly an hour. At 10 p.m. the same day, when Ms. Ha's daughter got into the car, the driver moved, turned on the emergency lights and horn. The incident was recorded by many people and posted on social media.

Ms. Ha said that when she first started working at the Women's Union of Ha Tinh province (more than a year ago), she saw that the unit's vehicles were equipped with priority lights and air horns. She reminded the driver many times to remove them, but he had not done so.

The car parked at the headquarters of the Ha Tinh Provincial Women's Union on the morning of February 7 had its emergency lights and horn installed on the roof removed. Photo: Hung Le — The car parked at the headquarters of the Ha Tinh Provincial Women's Union on the morning of February 7 had its emergency lights and horn installed on the roof removed. Photo: *Hung Le*

The leaders of Ha Tinh province said they had assigned the provincial Women's Union to report for serious review; at the same time, assigned the police to review and recall horns and priority lights on official vehicles that were installed incorrectly.

Ha Tinh Provincial Police reported that in 2023, the unit handled two administrative violations for arbitrarily installing and emitting signals of priority vehicles. According to regulations, vehicles equipped with sirens and priority lights include: fire trucks, military vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, dyke protection vehicles, vehicles on duty to handle natural disasters, epidemics or vehicles on duty in emergency situations. Cars illegally installing priority signal lights can be fined 2-3 million VND, have their equipment confiscated, and their driver's licenses revoked for 1-3 months.

Decree 63/2019 stipulates that the use of public vehicles for personal purposes or for work for positions that do not meet standards without approval from competent authorities will be subject to a fine of 10-20 million VND.

Driver of blue-plate car of Ha Tinh Women's Union fined 2.5 million VND — Official vehicle of Ha Tinh Province Women's Union turns on priority lights and sounds siren at Vinh airport, evening of February 2. Video: *Provided by local people*

The Ha Tinh Provincial Women's Union is a socio-political organization managed by the Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee. The above official vehicle was issued to the unit from 2021.

Leaders of the Provincial Women's Union are allowed to use cars to perform the duties and tasks assigned by the agency (not to be used for transportation from their residence to the agency and vice versa). The maximum purchase price of a car for general work is 950 million VND/car.

Duc Hung

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