Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/694236
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JUNE 2016 26 Letters THE Malta Transport Authority (ADT) has refused to compensate a vehicle own- er whose car was damaged due to the bad condition of roads, after the Ombudsman recommended it was liable for the dam- ages incurred. The ADT has told the Ombudsman that paying compensation for the damages would result in a precedent "which the Authority would not be in a position to sustain or even to justify". The case features in the first series of case notes issued by former Chief Justice Joseph Said Pullicino, who took over as Ombudsman from Joseph Sammut in De- cember 2005. Lacking any form of executive power, the Ombudsman is powerless to enforce its recommendation, saying there was no other option but to insist with the authorities "to change their policy and demonstrate a more customer-friendly approach". The driver damaged the front wheel of her car and its rim when she inadvertently drove the car over a displaced metal grat- ing, which was covering a culvert. As the car drove over the uncovered hole, the tyre was torn, damaging the edge of the alloy wheel. The Ombudsman has recommended that compensation was justified since the ADT was responsible for the road where the accident occurred. The driver reported the incident to the local police station where she claimed another driver was present to report a similar incident on the same spot. Police officials told her they were already aware of the damaged grating. She also reported the incident to the ADT, but the authority refused outright to acknowledge her request for reimburse- ment of the repair costs, saying it was pol- icy not to acknowledge such claims. The Ombudsman's reaction was that the ADT's response "amounted to sheer bad administration", and was critical of the fact that it refused to acknowledge claims by disgruntled motorists. He openly criticised the failure by the ADT management to reply to his letters on time "and the overtly negative attitude displayed by an ADT official in response to his insistence on a plausible explana- tion for the stance adopted by the ADT." In its defence, the ADT first questioned whether the damage had been examined by a competent surveyor on site before the driver lodged her claim. It later admitted that although road sur- faces should be free of holes, at the same time it was inevitable that road surfaces show signs of wear and tear, but that this should not be taken to mean that the ADT is liable for damaged caused to cars. The authority even claimed the damaged sus- tained by the car reflected the speed at which it was being driven. The Ombudsman pointed out that it does not need a car to be driven at a high speed to puncture a tyre against a sharp metal object or damage an alloy wheel. He also said the ADT did not provide any proof of its assertion that the road in question had been maintained regularly at the time, and that enquires by his of- fice revealed the culvert in question was a widely known hazard that had existed for years on end. Ombudsman – ADT should pay for damages incurred on the roads Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Catamaran passengers deserve better customer service The two extra seats I would like to share my concern and disappointment about the Virtu Ferries catamaran crossing to Pozzallo. My concern and surprise are that there are no security checks at all. No one scans the check-in luggage or the hand luggage. There is no body scan whatsoever. Anyone can carry a bomb onto the ferry. I think that the police and Trans- port Malta should investigate and remedy this. At the airport there is every sort of scan check. Is it presumed that terrorists acts can only happen on airplanes? My family travelled to Pozzallo and back at a weekend. We had two babies of 15 months with us. We travelled club class. Since we had a pushchair and we did not travel with a car, we were told to remain in the cabin until they told us. When we were told to go down, my daughter-in-law had to go through the garage and stay there until all vehicles and trailers disembarked, in all the wonderful fumes. Their policy is not persons and babies to go out first, followed by vehicles, but the other way round. Vehicles are more impor- tant than people's health. On going out of the catamaran we found that all luggages had been collected, except two out of our three luggages, which were left on the quay. The missing one contained all the essential items of the babies, including medicine. We told the staff about the miss- ing piece of luggage. We told them that in club class there were only a couple of people who did not travel with their cars and were to collect their luggage from the club class trolley. We suggested that they should call these few and inquire if they had mistakenly took our luggage. They said they would not do this. There is not even a lost luggage section where to lodge our claim. They never tagged our luggage. Their only response was that we should go to the Valletta police station at midnight, without a car and having two babies, and file a report. They did not even want to inform the police themselves. Obviously we did not take their advice and called the police who came to the port and took the report. This took us about 90 min- utes, with two babies in care. I am sure that passengers deserve better customer care. Anthony Galea Attard 18 June 2006 I read the opinion piece (Mal- taToday, Sunday, 29 May) by Saviour Balzan, and I am not surprised I found it a very mis- leading piece to read, starting from its title. In the counting of the 2013 election votes, a mis- take was made in the counting of votes in two districts, and because of these mistakes two Labour candidates had been pro- nounced elected wrongly. Discovered later, the electoral commission decided that the two Nationalist victims, who were supposed to be elected, should just the same be admitted to Par- liament. In my opinion it was a wrong decision. This decision resulted in our Parliament having two unelected persons, costing the taxpayer about €100,000 each per year. By this decision the Na- tionalist Party lost nothing, but Labour gained two extra seats in the House. I do not know whether or not the Nationalists had complained to the commission then; but I do know that they went to court for a ruling. Three years on, the case is still in court. A shame to whoever is arranging these court proceedings. Ms Justice Schembri Orland's judgement said among other things, that the Nationalist Par- ty should be given another two members to sit in Parliament. A week or so before this sentence I heard Simon Busuttil say that if the Nationalist Party will lose this case, he will keep fighting in the courts, even in Europe. To me it was right for the Na- tionalist Party to keep fighting, because they have a just case; but I would have never mentioned in public what my intention is. I also heard the Prime Minister making fun of Busuttil, seeing Busuttil running to Europe with a lost case. After the case the Prime Minister himself said that he did not agree with the judge's decision and the party will ap- peal it. Apparently also Mr Balzan did not like Ms Justice Schembri Or- land's decision when he gave a ti- tle to his article, and I quote 'Two Seats for 50 votes, 5,500 votes for the Greens equals what?' I am sure that Mr Balzan is intelligent enough, that play- ing around with figures and numbers will take you nowhere. With my greatest respect for the Greens, I am not against that one day, the sooner the better, one or more members of the Greens will be in Parliament, but the 50 votes which the Nationalists are fighting for have got nothing to do with the 5,500 Green votes mentioned in this article. Mr Balzan started his letter by mentioning Mr Bedingfield. This is his second time in about the same number of months that this person embarrassed the Prime Minister. I heard that he is a consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister. I truly want to learn what consultancy Mr Bed- ingfield can offer. One last thing about the latest. Simon Busuttil, as leader of the Nationalist Party, had been of- fended when the party received from the company Kasco a re- quest to settle its debt with this company. Dr. Busuttil had called it "a threat to democracy". I do not agree. What I agree with is that Keith Schembri is still in control of all of his com- panies, and he is doing nothing wrong if he is asking for his mon- ey, and here we are talking about a debt of €120,000. What I also agree with is that Keith Schem- bri and others who had secret accounts should leave Castille. Castille is not a place for these financial games, which the peo- ple are hearing about. Joseph Muscat Mosta Saviour Balzan replies: The electoral result of 2013 justly awarded the winners a nine-seat majority. There is no justification for bringing this down to seven. Contrary to what Mr Muscat stated, I have nothing against Justice Schembri Orland. I am not against that one day, the sooner the better, one or more members of the Greens will be in Parliament