I sincerely regret any inconvenience caused to Joe Mercieca - Fancy A Ride On Maltatransport.com? (August 28).
There are a few points I would like to clarify.
As per standard practice, all licence renewals received at the LTD by mail are dispatched within three working days. In Mr Mercieca's case, his road licence was renewed on July 28 and dispatched by post the following day.
The ADT's PR and marketing manager spoke to Mr Mercieca over the phone and explained that it had, in fact, been sent, on the 29th. She, however, also explained that there were postal problems, which could have possibly led to a delay. The ADT's PR and marketing manager was in no way passing the buck onto Maltapost as has been alleged by Mr Mercieca but was simply outlining the fact that the ADT had been experiencing postal problems at that time.
The ADT is fully committed towards good customer relations. Testimony of this is the fact that the PR and marketing manager personally delivered the renewed road licence to Mr Mercieca at his convenience.
Although we do not boast of being infallible, we are committed to improve our service to our clients. One may highlight the arrangement with the car importers whereby, after consultation, we initiated a new process of registering new cars. After the trial period, it was agreed to continue this process, as it was beneficial for both sides.
This is the type of approach the ADT is taking to give a better service. Having said this, there will always be room for improvement.
Mr Mercieca also referred to the female officer at the LTD office who asked him to "call at her office in Floriana at 7.30 in the morning". What Mr Mercieca failed to understand was that the female officer had asked him to go to her office in order to clarify matters and to issue a duplicate without further ado. Mr Mercieca did not turn up for his appointment but decided to call at the offices at his earliest convenience, which happened to be two days later. The female officer in question was, at the time, seeing to other clients and had another two or three persons waiting outside the "barricaded reception" to see her. Mr Mercieca decided to leave the premises, for reasons known only to him. Had he waited for the officer, he would have walked out of the office with his renewed road licence.
Following my instructions, the director LTD contacted Mr Mercieca to schedule a meeting as he had demanded. Mr Mercieca informed the director he only wanted to meet with the chairman or the chief executive.
Mr Mercieca mentioned that at first he was asked to take an affidavit but never actually did. An e-mail was sent to Mr Mercieca on August 16 (which mail has, to date, not been answered) in which he was informed that should he receive the original, renewed road licence by post he would have to return it to the LTD offices. Hence, Mr Mercieca was not required to sign an affidavit.
To conclude, it should be mentioned that the LTD is doing its utmost to ensure the timely delivery of renewed licences and has recently undertaken initiatives to lessen any inconvenience to the public, reduce end-of-the-month queuing and unnecessary waiting time within its offices. The number of front office personnel/customer care officers has been increased and all customers are now having their documents checked prior to calling at the counter.
In-house statistics for the month of July show that customers were seen to within 20 minutes of arrival. Also, the Ministry for Urban Development and Roads, in conjunction with the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology and insurance agencies will shortly be launching a vehicle-on-line renewal system. This is expected to further reduce queues at the offices.
On a final note, I would like to take this opportunity to remind the public to check for VRT renewal details on their logbook. I also urge the public to initiate the process of renewal as early in the month as possible. This would undoubtedly relieve pressure on all concerned.
Mr Falzon is chief executive, the Malta Transport Authority.