Matthew Xuereb
Trailer in Marsa bridge crash unlicensed
Police likely to charge four people
The trailer that crashed into a footbridge in Aldo Moro Road in Marsa last month while carrying an excavator was unlicensed and uninsured, The Times has learned.
Transport Malta confirmed the road licence of the trailer, technically known as a tractor unit, had expired in August 2006 and had not been renewed. As a result, the vehicle was uninsured.
The trailer rammed the footpath on April 23 at about 12.45 p.m., causing chaos to traffic in the main thoroughfares of Marsa and surrounding towns and even leading to some flights being delayed when air crew got stuck in the tailback. Some Matsec exams also had to be postponed.
The transport watchdog passed on information in its possession on the vehicle's licence to the police, "who have the power to prosecute the driver for a number of violations".
Transport Malta will be imposing an administrative fine of €2 on the vehicle's owner for every day he failed to renew the trailer's road licence since 2006.
Police sources confirmed that four people, including three from Gozo, were being investigated and were likely to be arraigned. They are believed to be the owner, the driver and the two people who loaded the excavator onto the trailer. Besides charges relating to the unpaid licence and insurance, they are expected to be charged with negligence and causing damage to public property.
The charges have not yet been filed because the inquiry by Magistrate Edwina Grima is still open.
Works to repair the damage to the footbridge will be carried out over the coming weeks, a spokesman for Transport Malta said, but there is still no estimate of how much they will cost.
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A. Mifsud
May 11th 2010, 09:50
I hope whoever is responsible is brought to justice and an examplarary sentence is given...and not simply gets away with a miserable fine. In this country we severely lack the basics for adequate enforcement especially when it comes to heavy plant transportation surveillance. VRT's are simply not adressing the true threats that heavy vehicles are imposing on our society. Old, unsafe and heavily polluting vehicles on our roads many times poorly loaded and overloaded, not to mention a good proportion of these unlicensed and uninsured. What if this incedent had far more severe repercussions or fatalities? Who would have been resposible to pay compensation?
Joe Busuttil
May 10th 2010, 20:32
And can we know the names of those involved? And is there a lawyer out there who can tell me if I can sue them for missing my plane?
Carmel Cilia
May 10th 2010, 19:11
Sorry but this is another case of corruption galor. Travelling nearly everyday to mellieha and back I find myself frequently behing huge construction trucks and concrete mixers whose emitions are awful. To add salt to a festering wound you would see wardens at selmun hill stopping small cars for touching the middle line after trying to overtake one of these offensive vehicles but then let the culprit of the truck go his way. Many of these contractors are privilaged. In this case the damage cause if calculated could account to millions of Euros. Are the culprits going to pay?
Raymond Cutajar
May 11th 2010, 08:27
Dear Mr C.CILIA pls note that the person / manager responsabile at the ADT/ TM overlooking that the VRT system works properly hence less exhaust smoke is capabile and as integral as the results of the vehicles' condition on our roads which have hugged Malta for the last ten and a half years.
You see I have invited / challenged him for not less than five times to go Live ,prime time on national TV and show the general public how the government has been taking people and Brussels for a rollercoaster ride with the help of this manager's crooked ways .
A Psaila
May 10th 2010, 17:09
Who is going to foot the bill?
We lack law enforcemant on our roads.
Paul Caruana
May 10th 2010, 15:44
Only in Malta (and Gozo)! I suppose we should not really be surprised at this.
In any case, the full force of the law should be bought to bear on the owner. This should include a number of civil lawsuits by, for example, the education department for having to go to the additional expense of postponing/ redoing a number of matsec exams, and the police, for the huge, if not always successful, effort to control traffic chaos caused by this person.
Noel Zarb
May 10th 2010, 13:08
...tajjeb wisq! Then because my car's insurance and license was not paid 1hour after it expired I got a ticket at 1am!!!!!
Jonathan Joseph
May 10th 2010, 23:44
heq kief jghidu ux habib tieghi, 'Law is strong with the weak and weak with the strong'
James Dimech
May 10th 2010, 12:57
This is the typical culture and these are the typical people which make Malta the shoddy country that it really is.
Mario Tabone-Vassallo
May 10th 2010, 11:55
Jidhirli li fil-GB hemm fond imhallas mill-kumpaniji ta' insurance li jaghmel tajjeb ghal min ma jkunx inxurjat. Wara kollox jaghmlu bizzejjed flus