The average age of vehicles on Malta's roads at the end of last year was 13.86 years, almost twice that of the UK,  according to a report by the National Audit Office on vehicle emission control schemes.

The number of vehicles that were less than two years old fell by 543 since 2008 and increased in the case of vehicles that were between 15 and 25 years old, before starting to drop in the case of vehicles over 25 years old.

The report shows that an increasing trend in Benzene traces was recorded at Mepa's Msida air monitoring station. Benzene can only ve attributed to petrol-engined vehicles.  However there has been an overall reduction in vehicle emissions.