A decision taken by Transport Malta to fine a VRT station owner and revoke his licence for a year has been overturned by the Administrative Review Tribunal as mistakes were made by the authority.

Inspectors had turned up at A-Check VRT station in Mosta and looked at a car which had just been certified by tester Ian Arpa to be roadworthy.

However, the inspectors found there were issues with the vehicle. It had two cracked front brake pipes, a loose front steering bush and a broken and worn front passenger seat. They fined Adrian Montanaro, the station owner, a total of €1,870, equivalent to 170 penalty points.

The tribunal, chaired by Magistrate Charmaine Galea, found that Mr Montanaro was the only person notified by the authority when it came to the problems it found with the car. The law only allowed the tester to be fined and yet it was Mr Montanaro who was penalised.

Furthermore, an accurate look at the law showed that the number of penalty points should have added up to 90 and not 170 as found by the authority.

The tribunal said the authority had no right to fine Mr Montanaro for the shortcomings of his employee and they could not convert the penalty points into an administrative fine.