Reference is made to Noel Grima’s article “Angry Crowds at licence office rail at ADT” (TMIS, 16 October).

In his article, Noel Grima, while criticising the ADT for issuing 20,000 letters to unlicensed car holders, did not point out that the legal implications of failing to inform the authority of the sale of a vehicle/transfer of ownership or of garaging or of scrapping a vehicle, among others.

To begin with, all registered vehicle owners are legally obliged to pay their vehicle’s road licence on a yearly basis as per Motor Vehicle Regulations Chapter 65 Regulation 11.

All registered owners are also legally obliged to inform the ADT of any changes (or conversions) made to their vehicle as stipulated in the Motor Vehicle Regulations, Regulation 91.

This means that the 20,000 or so registered owners of unlicensed vehicles who received a letter from the ADT to regularise their position immediately, received it because they failed to fulfil their obligations and were in breach of the law.

For example, if an owner sells a vehicle to an individual or a car dealer, the seller (and not the buyer) is legally bound to officially notify the ADT of these changes within seven working days. Unless this is done, ADT records will still recognise the original owner, and any correspondence will be sent to the original owner. Furthermore, fines and citations will be charged to the original owner.

Noel Grima mentioned three particular cases. While I will not go into the merits of each case, the point of the matter remains that whatever happened to the vehicles in the three cases he mentioned, the registered owner failed to inform the ADT, therefore, for all intents and purposes, the vehicle remains the responsibility of the owner as per our records. Moreover, should the vehicle be involved in a car accident or a crime, the original owner could be held responsible.

In January of last year, the situation of these unlicensed vehicles was highlighted in a press conference and the public was given six months to regularise its position and avail itself, at the time, of amnesties and reductions on the arrears. This means that the registered owners who turned up at our offices last week had totally ignored the January 2004 press conference as well as press notices in local newspapers earlier this year.

The ADT regrets any inconvenience caused to those clients who visited our offices and waited patiently to settle their long outstanding dues. However, the ADT assures the public that the queues of clients who had received the notice were dealt with separately from the regular ‘innocent’ clients, in order to cause the least disruption possible.

ADT reminds all vehicle registered owners that:

1) When they sell or buy a vehicle they must be sure that the transfer of ownership is registered with LTD within seven days;

2) When a registered owner garages his vehicle he must take the registration plates and registration certificate including the licence disc to the Licensing and Testing Directorate; just keeping a vehicle in the garage is not considered technically as a ‘garaging’ procedure.

3) A registered owner who scraps his vehicle must return the registration plates of the vehicle to the Licensing and Testing Directorate for scrapping. In the case of tax or duty exempt vehicles Customs need to be informed prior to scrapping.

To conclude, the ADT reminds vehicle owners that local wardens have already been notified about all unlicensed vehicles, and will be taking all the necessary action to clamp these vehicles. Once clamped, vehicle owners will have to settle all arrears, fines, and fees at the Licensing and Testing Department before their vehicle is de-clamped.

Please visit www.maltatransport.com for further details on the above procedures.

Daniela Borg Mizzi

Public Relations Manager

Malta Transport Authority