Illegally parked cars registered outside of Malta clamped and fined on the spot

Illegally parked vehicles that are registered outside of Malta, more so when registered outside of the EU, will be clamped and fined on the spot, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said yesterday evening in Parliament.

Ongoing public outcry has persisted due to owners of foreignregistered vehicles parking wherever they please due to the inability of local authorities to issue fines.

In response, Mr Mizzi has announced that this will be tackled through on-the-spot clamping and issuing of fines. He reminded MPs that vehicles registered in the EU have the right to be in any member state for a period of seven months, after which the driver must register the car in the respective member state.

“This government has taken this problem seriously, so much so that in the first two months of this year enforcement authorities have already caught out 43 vehicles [with foreign plates] that were being driven irregularly,” said Minister Mizzi.

In addition to this, cars that are imported must apply for a 30day permit – issued in the form of a disc that is placed on the windscreen of the car – which would allow the owner to drive the second hand car while registering it in Malta, within a period of 30 days. If after 30 days the driver does not register the car, and it therefore remains with foreign plates registered elsewhere, the car would then be towed.

This has been proposed as a result of the situation where people importing cars from abroad were keeping the foreign plates rather than registering in Malta so that they may benefit from enforcement authorities being unable to issue fines or tickets.