A diplomatic incident was averted when the CD vehicle of the Austrian Ambassador Elisabeth Kehrer was the subject of a warden’s fine for parking on a pavement in Valletta.

The car, a Toyota, was parked on a pavement in South Street while the ambassador’s driver went to the bank. The parking ticket was issued in the name of diplomat Ado Rieger, the Austrian Consul and the Deputy Head of the Austrian Embassy, because the ambassador’s car is registered in his name.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday for his comments, Mr Rieger said the parking ticket was issued in his name because when the car was registered, the embassy could not be used so his name had to be used on the logbook.

He said the summons was sent to his old address in Attard but this was not the address on the logbook. “What happened to data protection? The local council got the wrong data,” he said.

Mr Rieger explained that the parking ticket was issued when the ambassador’s driver parked the official car on a pavement while he went to a bank.

“The parking ticket is justified and the embassy will pay it. A diplomat is a normal human being and can make mistakes. We do not, and will not, insist on privileges that are not fair,” he said. “But there is a fine line defining diplomatic immunity.”

Mr Rieger continued: “What annoyed me is that I was summoned to appear before the local tribunal but the letter ordering me to do so was all in Maltese. It’s obvious that my name is foreign, but yet they sent me the letter in Maltese. This is ridiculous. There are many foreigners living here. Moreover, they know that I am an Austrian diplomat, but yet they sent it to my personal, wrong, address.”