And unless they pay up, they will not be able to licence their commercial vehicles.

A letter has been circulated to all commercial vehicle permit holders informing them that they will not be able to renew their permits unless their social insurance account is paid in full.

In the letter, the Department of Social Insurance Officer Yvonne Joseph wrote: "The Department of Transportation Control (TCD) will require commercial vehicle permit holders to present current copy of their Social Insurance Account Statement during their review of the re-licensing application.

"And you will be required to have your social insurance payments up to date before your permit is approved.'' Ms. Joseph suggested that businesses made sure that their social insurance accounts were paid to avoid delays in renewing their permits.

Yesterday a spokesperson for Ms Joseph admitted that this year was the first time a circular had been sent out. And she said that the constraints served a dual purpose.

The restrictions will ensure that the backlog of delinquent businesses catch up on their payments, she said.

And the constraints will also enable TCD to conduct a screening process.

A TCD spokesman said the guidelines allowed them to make sure that permit holders were using the vehicles for commercial purposes.

And he said that presenting certain documentation, at the time of registration, was not a new idea, but one they had been using for years for a variety of vehicles.

"Every year we use this (required documentation), we just change the class of vehicles,'' the spokesman explained.