Customs and police inspected nearly 100 foreign cars in Helsinki and Espoo last Wednesday, citing “a steady increase in the numbers of traffic violations” involving such vehicles. They say they found “deficiencies” in almost 50 vehicles.
The latest dragnet was coordinated by the Helsinki Police Department’s traffic unit. According to the head of the department, Inspector Dennis Pasterstein, “some of the deficiencies involved car tax, some owners received orders to report to Customs, and some were ordered to take the car out of Finland. The police found one person wanted for an offence as well as one drunk driver, and issued several punitive sanctions and summary penal orders.”
It is illegal for permanent residents of Finland to own or drive cars registered elsewhere. However officials say that many people do so to avoid paying Finnish vehicle taxes, which are relatively high. Therefore they regularly track vehicles with foreign licence plates at ports and border crossing points.