Notaries around the county are back in business and helping residents who are finally permitted to purchase cars with securing their titles, which they couldn’t do during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf.

But some have had to turn customers away because their stock of license plates is depleted.

The issue arose, according to various local notaries public, because the state’s Department of Transportation is not yet allowing notaries to order license plates via their messenger services and have them delivered by courier as usual.

That process has plates in the hands of notary shops in about two days.

Now, notaries must send in their license plate orders by mail and delivery of a shipment takes from 10 days to three weeks.

Dave Harkins, owner of Campbell’s Notary Service in Center Township, has a few truck plates and recently received a shipment of trailer plates from PennDOT, but is out of license plates for cars.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appeared in Sunday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.