The traffic police started calling its most errant motorists via its control room on Monday to recover pending e-challan fines. However, after calls to 2,000 people in three days, nearly 40 per cent have been trying to blow them off with bizarre excuses. Among them are — no money right now so will pay when we get some, that they have never broken traffic rules, that the car is actually being used by someone else.

Traffic police personnel have been working at an internal call centre created just for this purpose, where 24 staffers have been calling motorists. The 60 per cent people who were willing to pay up said they need some time.