Following our public complaint made yesterday after detecting a vehicle used for urban public transport that was in service with an ITV sticker that expired 4 months ago (assuming a possible oversight in replacing the sticker), Manilva Town Hall itself confirms that the vehicle has not been inspected, and a press release has been published today attempting to discredit this outlet and offering excuses that do not hold up in any way.
This newsroom has had access to the payment slip, which shows that the appointment was requested today at ITV station 2922 in Marbella with locator f0a5, and that it has been given a slot for next Monday, 22 March at 8:22 in the morning.
The company informs us that the ITV station closed its doors from 14 March until 11 May, but from June it began working at full capacity, and explains the following:
For vehicles whose ITV expired during the state of alarm (14 March to 22 or 23 June), an extension was granted to pass the ITV, depending on the week in which it expired.
However, owing to the large backlog of pending appointments, vehicles whose ITV expired outside the state of alarm during the months of June, July and August (only these months) were given a 3-month extension from the expiry date to avoid a massive build-up and to prioritise those from the state of alarm. In other words, if the ITV expired on 27 July, they allowed a period in which to pass it (it could be called validity) until 27 October.
In conclusion, they inform us that vehicles whose ITV expired from 1 September onwards do not benefit from any extension, validity or anything of the sort, confirming to us that those vehicles are on the road WITHOUT the required ITV.
The company also confirms that there were staff recruitment problems and appointments were being given for 3, 4 and even 5 months ahead, which is why the Dirección General de Tráfico (the national traffic authority) decided (at the end of January) to shelve the fines for not having the ITV up to date.
To reduce waiting times, more than 200 workers have been taken on and appointments have been brought forward considerably, provided that the person with an appointment had taken the trouble to bring it forward at the same station or to change station, as not all of them have been overwhelmed.
For all these reasons, we stand by our complaint made yesterday and, despite asking today for explanations from the person in charge of this department, all we have received are excuses, with nothing to prove us wrong, and excuses that do not stand up on their own, least of all from someone whose main responsibilities lie in the management of our vehicle fleet, where the planning and maintenance of the municipal vehicle fleet should be more than well organised, and with even more dedication for these vehicles, which are already due for replacement, as they themselves acknowledged a few days ago, with thousands of kilometres behind them and carrying hundreds of people every day.
We hope there are other well-founded reasons, but we will not tolerate «shooting the messenger» and attempts to discredit our outlet without cause, and even less that the whole truth is not told to the residents of Manilva.
Signed: Alejandro Granados (Director of Manilva.ws)
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