have been apparently abandoned on wasteland.

The three vehicles were spotted near the Castle Marriott Harbour hotel. And if the owner does not come forward to claim them they could be sold off by the Government.

Last night Traffic Control director Donald Dane said he was amazed when told that the vehicles had been dumped.

"It's the first I've heard about it,'' he said. "But we will definitely have traffic officers down there to investigate first thing in the morning. I've no idea how much they would cost but they would be expensive. I just can't understand it.

"It is an offence to dump them. What normally happens with abandoned vehicles is that we notify the owner and they have ten days to come and pick them up.

If that's not done then we contact the Works and Engineering who remove them.

Then, after a couple of months they are taken to the dump and used as resale.'' Mr. Dane did not predict problems in locating the owner of the vehicles through the registration plates. And he said that attempts to notify the owner would be made "right away''.

The Royal Gazette has learned that the three cabs could have been in a group of four London taxis brought over from the UK several years ago. The fourth vehicle is now being driven by veteran cabbie Donald Lindsay.

But attempts by The Royal Gazette to find the owner of the other three have so far failed.