If you want to avoid a €50 fine, make sure you hold onto the bus card throughout your journey, if you are sharing a Tallinja non-personalised card.

Unaware of this, tourist Rosemarie Hutchinson was caught by surprise when, on Monday, an inspector demanded to see the card she had used for her trip to the airport.

Ms Hutchinson was returning back home to the UK after an “amazing” six days in Malta.

She had been sharing a non-personalised €15 card for 12 trips with her partner, Jason Roberts.

The card was back with Mr Roberts in Spinola Bay, since he was staying on for a few more days.

Mr Roberts told this newspaper he had just seen her onto the bus. When he validated the card they were sharing, he told the bus driver that the fare he had just paid for was for Ms Hutchinson, as he was not accompanying her.

However, an inspector that got onto the bus later demanded to see a paper ticket, Mr Roberts said, adding that despite the bus driver confirming Ms Hutchinson had validated the card for the trip, the inspector insisted she pay the fine.

“As she was scared of missing her flight, she had to allow him to march her to the ATM at the airport so she could get the €50.”

Meanwhile, the company told this newspaper it was making an exception and refunding the fine.

The couple insisted that, on the back, the card says a €50 penalty applied for not validating the trip every time you boarded the bus and it did not state the passenger needed to hold on to the card for inspection. They questioned why a ticket was not issued once the card was validated to avoid similar situations.

When contacted, Malta Public Transport said that, although the card could be shared, it stood to reason that passengers using it needed to be able to show they in fact had used the card. This was highlighted on a notice aboard the buses.

Meanwhile, the company had looked into the case and, since there was lack of evidence, the company could not determine if this was a mistake by the driver, the passenger or both.

“However, the company has no doubt that the intention of the passenger wasn’t to travel for free, so MPT will make an exception and will refund the passenger in full.

“The company would like to apologise to the customer for any inconvenience caused, even though MPT’s controller has strictly followed the company’s internal procedure.”