A quarter of all offences caught by speed cameras are going unpunished, as the owners of foreign-registered vehicles cannot be traced, this newspaper has learnt.

However, this is set to change through an EU directive that will grant Maltese authorities access to the vehicle information databases of all other EU countries.

The increase in the number of cars entering Malta by sea from Sicily, and to a lesser extent from Libya, has led to a rise in offences involving foreign-registered cars.

But, unlike Maltese-registered vehicles, whose owners are easily traceable and subject to fines, foreign motorists are likely to escape unscathed due to the increasingly complex cross-border difficulties of accessing their details.

Read more in the Times of Malta.