The pothole on Salina Road, Naxxar.

Transport Malta has been ordered to pay €5,215 for the damage caused to a car when it overturned after hitting a deep pothole on Salina Road, Naxxar, four years ago.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale found that Transport Malta was responsible for the maintenance of the road – which he concluded was classified as a distributor road since it linked two arterial roads.

He said the authority, together with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, “abdicated” from its responsibility to have an updated list of roads outlining which were considered arterial or distributor and, therefore, who was responsible for their upkeep.

The magistrate heard how, on August 12, 2010, Edward Portelli was driving his father’s Toyota Vitz along Salina Road in the direction of the Coast Road.

He drove the car into the large pothole. The tyre burst, he lost control of the car, crossed over to the other lane and overturned. The car came to a standstill in a field close to the house of John Portelli who witnessed the accident.

John Portelli told the court he had witnessed several other accidents caused by the pothole and had reported it to the local council and to the authorities a number of times. He said that, soon after the accident, the pothole was sealed and that Edward Portelli was not driving fast.

Following the incident, insurance company Gasan Mamo Insurance and Saviour Portelli, the owner of the Toyota, filed a case against Transport Malta and the Naxxar local council requesting that they be reimbursed for the cost of the damage to the car.

The local council and Transport Malta both denied they were responsible for the maintenance of the road.

Transport Malta insisted that, when it came to roads, it was responsible for arterial and distributor roads only. It said it relied on a 1999 map, drawn up by the planning authority, to determine which roads fell under these two categories. Salina Road was built between 2003 and 2004 and, therefore, it was not included in the map.

Magistrate Depasquale noted that, according to law, Transport Malta was to keep a list of roads and their classification. The list had to be available on request. But, he noted, this list was not available.

The magistrate went on to determine, based on the definitions in the law, how Salina Road was classified. He concluded it was a distributor road since it linked two arterial roads, had one carriageway and had limited parking. After concluding this he noted that the authority was aware of this despite arguing to the contrary. This emerged from correspondence, dated August 2004, in which the deputy chief executive of the authority wrote to the Naxxar mayor about the new Salina bypass. It read: “… it has been agreed that the new bypass road is to be classified as a distributor road.”

The magistrate ordered the authority to pay the insurance company €4,527 and the owner of the car €688 to cover the excess fee and other expenses incurred.