More than half of vehicles fail to turn up for emissions test

Since the Emissions Alert system was introduced in August 2005 and the end of June 2010, 6,127 vehicles were tested, while another 6,741 did not show up for the test despite being notified to do so.

Transport Minister Austin Gatt said this while he was replying a parliamentary question yesterday by Labour Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs Anglu Farrugia.

Gatt told Farrugia the these vehicles had been place under a restriction on their renewal. “These restrictions would only be removed once these vehicles are taken for the emissions’ test and pass,” he warned.

Of those vehicles who did attend for the emissions’ test, 44 were owned by Government department or entities, however this figure did not include vehicles leased from rental companies.

Gatt also revealed that vehicle emissions’ testing was only conducted “once or twice a month”, however this depended on the number of SMSes received.

Gatt claimed he could not answer how many vehicles had been taken the emissions’ test more than once since information on the Transport Malta database is “gathered cumulatively and therefore the requested information is not collected”.

Moreover, more than half of the vehicles that were tested by TM during roadside checks have failed their tests. Out of 12,060 vehicles tested between 2005 and the end of June 2010, 6,479 failed their test.