Transport Malta has been ordered to refund the penalty imposed on a VRT garage owner after a court found it had breached the principles of natural justice when he was not given the opportunity to defend himself.

He should have been given enough time to defend himself from any allegations

The authority must refund Paul Cassar, of Cassar Service Station, the €11,647 it had imposed when it accused him of not testing a vehicle in July 2006 or not carrying out the test according to procedures.

The appeal court noted that the authority had not only failed to ensure Mr Cassar had a fair hearing but neither did it bother replying to a letter he had sent requesting the opportunity to defend himself from the accusations.

It said Transport Malta had failed to ensure equality of arms and that, although it had asked him for clarifications regarding the vehicle in question, it had never told Mr Cassar what it was accusing him of.

The case revolves around a vehicle roadworthiness test on a Ford Transit carried out in July 2006.

After he was asked to attend a meeting on the matter, Mr Cassar received a letter saying he had been found guilty of either not testing the vehicle or not carrying out the test according to procedures.

As a result, the authority withdrew €11,647 of the guarantee each VRT station submits as a licence requirement.

In the appeal judgment, the court also lambasted the authority’s “unsustainable” legal argument that once Mr Cassar had been called in for clarifications on the vehicle in question, he could “reasonably assume what the meeting was about”.

The court, composed of Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri, said this argument was not only “legally weak” but constituted an admission that the authority had not informed Mr Cassar of the accusations against him and the possibility of a substantial penalty.

What the authority should have done was inform Mr Cassar of the charges rather than assume that he could assume this, the court said, as it added that Mr Cassar should have also been given enough time to defend himself from any allegations.

“There’s a big difference between asking someone for clarifications and accusing him of infringing a contract which could result in a substantial penalty,” the court said.

The court therefore ordered Transport Malta to refund Mr Cassar the €11,647 it had withdrawn from the collective guarantee fund.

It said this amount was not compensation, as decreed by the First Hall of the Civil Court, but a refund of the money that had been withdrawn.