Woman says Transport Malta, Gozo ministry tampered with official document to hide van registration cock-up

A woman who paid over €5,000 in importation tax and penalties to register the camper van in which she travelled from Switzerland to Malta last March, has filed a criminal complaint against Transport Malta and the Ministry for Gozo, accusing officials of tampering with an inspection form to cover up a mistake on their part.

In a criminal complaint filed on December 1, together with a judicial protest against Transport Malta and the Ministry for Gozo, warning of her intention to seek damages should the situation not be resolved, Heidi Gufler, an Italian national who has lived in Gozo for the past 14 years, claims that a Transport Malta official had tampered with a form she had submitted, overwriting the vehicle’s date of inspection, which had previously stated “1-4-2022”  to read “1-8-2022” and tearing off the bottom part of the form, where her details had been listed.

Gufler alleges that this was an attempt to cover up the omission by a Transport Malta official to inform her of the amount due for the vehicle’s registration in Malta.

The woman had gone to Transport Malta’s Gozo offices on the next working day after her arrival in Malta, on March 10 this year, to register the vehicle. She was instructed to await an inspection in Marsalforn, which took place on March 29. Asked what the next step would be, the official conducting the inspection informed Gufler that she would be receiving an email stipulating the amount due for importation taxes and registration fees.

While waiting for this email, and in the absence of instructions to the contrary, Gufler continued to drive the vehicle in Malta.
 
After five months of waiting in vain, Gufler contacted the Transport Malta office in Gozo once again, asking for the amount of money due, as well as an update on the progress of her vehicle’s registration.  She was told that she would be receiving an email “in the coming days” informing her of the amount payable for registration.

On the 2nd of August 2022, Gufler’s van was stopped at a roadblock manned by police and Transport Malta officials, who seized the vehicle’s Swiss number plates. Gufler says she was told that she could not drive the camper van and that it would be impounded unless off-street parking could be found within the hour. After some frantic phone calls, a family friend offered to allow Gufler to park in his private field.

Transport Malta subsequently told Gufler that she would get her number plates back after she paid for the registration of the vehicle. She proceeded to go again to the Transport Malta offices the next day, and was told to wait for an email.  

On August 8, she was informed that the amount due for registration was €3,375.50, which she duly paid.

Transport Malta then sent her a list of requirements and documentation needed to register her vehicle, which she proceeded to compile and hand in.

Gufler says that it was at this time that the Transport Malta officials realised that the vehicle had come from Switzerland, which is a non-EU country.  In early September, Transport Malta informed her that because of this, she also needed customs clearance before attempting to register the vehicle with Transport Malta.

Again, Gufler proceeded to obtain the necessary customs clearance and gathered further documentation that had been requested as part of the registration procedure. “At no point was she informed that she would be fined, and she later proceeded to register the vehicle,” Gufler’s written declaration states.

On October 18 the woman was informed by Transport Malta that her registration had been rejected, by means of a rejection notice, dated September 30.  The rejection letter indicated that she had not paid a “late payment” fee.

Gufler once again contacted the Transport Malta office in Gozo, arguing that the imposition of the late payment fee was unfair, as the delay in the registration of the vehicle was not her fault. She was instructed to make a declaration to this effect, in order contest the fine

Meanwhile, the vehicle in question is still registered in Switzerland and had missed a VRT on September 19, due to Gufler’s situation in Malta. After being informed of the problems, the Swiss Authorities postponed the VRT test by two months to November 19, but as the Transport Malta registration process had not been completed by then Gufler had to contact Switzerland again to inform them of her situation, in view of which the Swiss VRT test was postponed for the last time, to December 31.

Gufler was informed by the Swiss authorities that should the VRT test not take place, the vehicle would be deregistered in Switzerland. This, Gufler says, would land her Swiss friend, who had offered to allow the vehicle to be registered in her name pending its registration in Malta, in serious trouble with the police there, facing potential court proceedings and large fines.

MaltaToday approached Transport Malta for comment on Monday 12 December. No reply was received at the time of publication of this article on Wednesday 15 December.