Transport Malta’s recent decision to take a number plate off the road was part of a concerted effort to remove all plates ending with the dubious characters Z-088, which had slipped through the net.
If the numbers are read as letters, the combination can be interpreted as a vulgar Maltese word.
“This was one of 11 personalised plates that were recalled, all ending with the same four characters, because they were considered inappropriate,” the transport watchdog explained.
“Normally, these would have been spotted by Transport Malta’s system at registration stage, however, in this case, they were not,” a spokesman said.
The Times recently reported the case of Nicholas Rizzo, whose number plate, RZZ-088, innocently incorporated his surname and year of birth. In his case, the first two letters made the number plate even worse, as Mr Rizzo himself admitted with hindsight.
Many readers lashed out at Transport Malta for getting its priorities wrong and for having dirty-minded officials. Other readers called in to report that they too had been victims of the recall.
Gozo resident Terry Bate had been sporting his number plate GOZ-088 for the past 11 years.
He had words of praise for Transport Malta who, he said, handled the changeover “efficiently” and promised to send the plate to Gozo. “Given the state of the roads in Gozo, however, I may never get it,” he quipped.
Another reader pointed out that the owner of the number plate XIZ-088, which had become infamous in the Paola area for its clearly intended vulgarity, had also been asked to change it.
Meanwhile, one victim of the blanket recall got his lawyer Rolan Borg to write a legal letter to Transport Malta to reverse its decision, arguing that it could not be taken arbitrarily and “without just cause”. The driver’s DJZ-088 number plate combined his initials with his year of birth.
Dr Borg added that, since there was no objection initially, there should be no objection now.
However, Transport Malta replied by pointing out that it had every legal right to recall any number plate issued.
Speaking to The Times, Transport Malta acknowledged that some number plates were more inappropriate than others but, “for consistency”, all personalised plates with the same four characters were recalled. “An alternative set of plates were offered at no extra charge,” it added.
Although many readers dubbed this story another “only in Malta” incident, others pointed out that obscene number plates also caused problems in countries like the UK, where action had been taken to remove number plates that could be deemed offensive. In some cases, obscenities were intended while in others they were just coincidental.