'No parking' ban "difficult to understand"

People living in San Glormu Street in St Paul's Bay cannot understand why both sides of their street have been marked with yellow lines indicating that they cannot park, even in front of their garages.

The street consists of terraced houses with each house having its own garage, many of which have a ramp which is not long enough to park a car on.

One of the residents said that especially in summer, when hundreds of families from outside the seaside town go up to St Paul's Bay to spend the summer months, vacant parking spaces are hard to come by.

During the rest of the year, weekends turn into a nightmare for the residents who find they have to wind their way round the town to find a place to park their vehicle because of the thousands of people who spend the evenings there.

One resident said he goes home several times a day and has to garage his car every time.

"I find it extremely frustrating not to have anywhere to park in this street. In the two streets parallel to San Glormu, in Salvatore Borg Street parking is prohibited on only one side, and in Alfonsju Wignacourt Street parking is allowed on both sides," the irate resident said.

Being over five metres wide, and not on the bus route, San Glormu Street was wide enough to allow parking on one side. Parking could be allowed on one side of the road without interrupting traffic, which is not that heavy. The 'no parking' rule could be tempered, he said.

To add insult to injury, parking is allowed on both sides of 10 ta' Frar Street close to Pioneer Road, making it a nerve-wracking experience for drivers to go through when cars are parked on both sides, particularly on weekends.

When contacted, however, St Paul's Bay mayor Paul Bugeja said that San Glormu Street was too narrow to allow parking on either sides. In fact parking is allowed on one section of the road where there are no garages.

"Residents were finding it hard to take their cars out of their garages when a car was parked on both sides of their driveway. Residents can park their car on their ramp when they call at their home," Mr Bugeja said.

Asked whether the yellow lines were painted on both sides of the road to accommodate some residents who wanted to garage heavy vehicles or to deliver merchandise, the mayor strongly denied that this was the case.

Mr Bugeja said the yellow lines were painted on the order of the local council. The council, he said, could take such decisions without referring the matter to the Traffic Control Board.