It was social distancing being practised, and Fiji Sun is misleading people by incorrectly attributing a queue at our Valelevu Office to the closure of other branches - LTA

The Land Transport Authority of Fiji has urged media organizations to practice responsible and accurate reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid misleading and confusing Fijians during these trying times.

This comes after a misleading article was published in the Fiji Sun on 5th May titled "Long Queues Now as LTA Closes Several Branches," which LTA says incorrectly attributed a queue at LTA's Valelevu Office to the closure of branches due to COVID-19.

LTA says it is disappointing to note that no reporter from the newspaper company attempted to contact LTA or its CEO to obtain or verify the facts before publishing the story.

The CEO has been quoted in the newspaper article stating that LTA was not expecting large crowds and did not foresee future problems.

LTA says the CEO did not at any time make such comments and it is appalling to note that Fiji Sun reporters have conjured such comments when there was no proper interviews done.

The Authority further says the closure of branches has nothing to do with the queue.

It says in fact, for the safety of Fijians during COVID-19, they have limited the number of customers who can enter their Customer Service Hall at any one time, in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines on physical distancing.

LTA says the queue mentioned in the article was a result of the access control and was quickly dealt with by LTA staff. They also say that they monitor waiting times and serving times at LTA facilities using a technological solution.

According to LTA, on Monday 4th May at the Valelevu Office, they dealt with 151 customers with an average wait time of 24 minutes 29 seconds and an average serving time of 4 minutes 45 seconds.

LTA also says customers can still register for e-services, or download and activate the LTA app online, including paying for the renewal, so there is no need for these customers to visit an LTA facility.

The Authority also cautions Fijians from believing fake news online, such as a Facebook posts, which falsely claims that the LTA registration email is full.

It says this is not correct, their mailbox does not have a size limit and they regularly test the systems to ensure they are working properly.