People going on road trips have become much more common recently. People living in cities like Delhi often take their families to the hill stations to enjoy weekends or quick vacations. Hill stations near Delhi, such as Rishikesh and Manali, often get crowded due to tourists. People often take their cars or even rent cabs to enjoy more time with their families. However, here we have a video in which a Himachal Pradesh traffic police officer is seen issuing a fine to a tourist who actually drove with his family in a car that he borrowed from his friend.
The video has been shared by Sitaram12456 on his YouTube channel. In this short video, the vlogger mentions that the Himachal Pradesh police had stopped a family traveling in a car. The short video does not show the car in which the family was traveling. However, we can hear the person say that he was traveling in his neighbor’s car, who is also his friend. The traffic police had stopped the family for a general inspection, and when the driver showed him all the documents that the officer asked for.
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The cop, after looking at the documents, told the driver that using someone else’s car was not allowed, and a challan would be issued. Once again, we do not see the car in this video. The family can be seen arguing with the cop, but it looks like he is not listening at all. The cop mentions that he can even take it to court, and it was completely illegal. The video mentions that the person driving the car even made a call to the original owner of the car to confirm things with the cop and assure him that he had borrowed the car with the owner’s permission only.
Driving a car that you borrowed from your friend or relative is not actually illegal. There has been a recent trend where many tour operators offer privately registered cars to tourists to save on commercial vehicle tax. As we do not see the car in this video clearly, we cannot confirm if it is a case like this or not. If the person has borrowed the car with consent from the original owner, it is not illegal. If the person is sure that the cops have issued a wrong challan, he should take the matter to the higher authorities to clear things up.
In Chennai, there is a rule that if you borrow a friend’s vehicle, the owner should be informed. If caught driving a friend’s or relative’s vehicle without the owner’s knowledge, the Chennai Police can impose a jail term of three months or a Rs. 500 fine. This was done to reduce the number of vehicle thefts in the city, as many people claim the car or bike belongs to their friend during routine checks. In this case, we feel the person was actually driving a car that was borrowed from his friend, and he should not have been fined.
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