Councils to clamp down on outstanding fines

All motorists who have long-standing fines issued by wardens will be asked to cough up the money by next month or face legal action after local councils have collectively decided to come down hard on offenders.

There is around Lm400,000 in unpaid warden fines. This figure is expected to rise to Lm500,000 by the end of the year if nothing is done, Local Councils Association president Ian Micallef said yesterday.

An advert is to appear on the media next week urging all those who have not paid fines dating back more than six months to pay their dues by the end of July or face court action.

Those found guilty of an offence by a local tribunal and who have not paid will also receive a letter asking them to settle at once.

The majority of the unpaid fines were handed out in the Sliema/ St Julian's area, followed by the St Paul's Bay/Bugibba area and Birkirkara. Quite a few of these fines date back to January, 2000, Dr Micallef said.

Kenneth De Martino, managing director of The Guard and Warden Service House Ltd, operators of the warden service, said the decision to clamp down on unpaid tickets was taken for two reasons.

"First, these are debts due to the local councils for breaking the law. Second, if everybody keeps ignoring these fines, the whole system is going to collapse. It's a matter of credibility," Mr De Martino said.

Asked why councils had not decided to take such a step before, Mr De Martino explained that one particular joint committee of local councils had decided to take the bull by the horns and issue legal warnings. After coming under heavy fire from the public, all the councils decided to act collectively through the association.

"Statistics show that an increasing number of people are paying on time - but a considerable number insist on ignoring them."

Offenders can settle their fines online via www.les.gov.mt simply by inputting details of the offence. So far some 290 fines have been settled this way.

A system had been introduced whereby car licences would not be renewed unless wardens' tickets are settled.

Last month however, following the intervention of the ombudsman, it was decided that the vehicle registration system was to be amended to ensure that licence renewals were not refused because of unpaid fines which are not related to traffic offences.