The Traffic Department has temporarily shut some 70 car workshops, and another 20 car rental firms so far this year for not complying with government regulations, according to local media reports.

The closures vary between one month and three months, and most of the businesses affected are in the Industrial area.

Workshops are routinely closed for repairing vehicles without a permit, the Gulf Times reports. Car rental firms, meanwhile, have been penalized for offering vehicles older than the legal limits of five years.