A driver has condemned Government and Police for targeting drivers with tinted windows instead of dealing with more pressing social issues.

Scott Smith, a church-goer who is self employed, made the attack after he was ordered to remove the tint from his new Nissan Sentra following his arrest over allegedly unpaid speeding tickets.

Mr. Smith, a father of four of Dundonald Street, Pembroke, was pulled over on Crow Lane at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday because Police had an arrest warrant relating to two speeding tickets, which Mr. Smith says he has already paid.

Police then ordered him to remove the tint from his car as part of a new crackdown launched by the Ministry of Transport and Transport Control Department.

The clampdown on tinted glass is because Police cannot see into cars and because of fears that drivers' vision will be impaired, particularly at night.

Mr. Smith said yesterday: "I don't do drugs, I don't sell drugs, I don't commit offences. I am an honest, hard-working family man who goes to church every week.

"When we hear so much negative publicity about young black men, I consider myself to be a positive role model.'' Angry over crackdown of tinted windows "Having had to pay that amount of money to have that done to the car, I find it really unfair that they are dictating what you can and can't do with it.

"If you survey a lot of people who work hard and pay for the upkeep of their cars, they would agree. It's like buying a house and people saying you can't paint the walls blue.

"This new Government has so many problems that they have to deal with like housing, drugs and schools.

"You see people every day on the streets selling drugs and they don't do anything yet they are picking on people like me. I'm disgusted.'' Mr. Smith said he will try to meet Transport Minister Ewart Brown to lobby him to change the law.

He admits he was annoyed about the tint removal policy when Police pulled him over because he had been warned by friends, but said he was polite at all times.

He said: "I told the cop I was not going to take it off so I got on his bad side because they allow you 24 hours to take it off.

"The Police officer said he was going to embarrass me in front of all these people. He called for back-up and got my car impounded and called a paddy wagon to pick me up.

"They handcuffed me and stopped the 5 o'clock traffic so I could cross the street to the westbound lane to get into the paddy wagon.

"It's not as if I was a criminal, it was a speeding ticket that was over-looked in the computer.'' Mr. Smith was taken to Hamilton Police Station and released an hour later after his father paid $700 for the fines. He said he will be looking for his receipts to reclaim the $700.

His car was taken to Transport Control Department to be tested and he later removed the tint.

He said a Police officer told him his licence would be revoked if he did not remove the tint.

"I wasn't even given a ticket for the tint. If it is illegal, why didn't they give me a ticket,'' he added.

Mr. Smith rejects allegations that the tint on his car could restrict his vision.

"If I had a problem with the tint at night I would not drive it because it would be a safety hazard,'' he said.

A Police spokesman said Police have no powers to arrest anyone for having tints. If a driver contests that the tint is too dark, the car can be impounded and taken to TCD for testing.

A driver would only be arrested for obstruction if they refused to allow the vehicle to be tested.