Things getting worse

My husband, granddaughter and myself have just returned from our holiday in Malta. Our stay was the worst ever and we have it in mind to go elsewhere in future.

We have been going to Malta for the past 22 years and over that time things have got increasingly worse. We get the feeling it is only what you can spend that they are interested in.

The roadsides are filthy with rubbish piled up everywhere and there is cat and dog muck everywhere you go.

The standard of driving also gets worse by the year. We were involved in an incident on a bus coming out of Valletta going to Rabat. We had just started our journey, when the bus driver's phone went and he was talking on it. The next minute he pulled up sharply. It was a wonder no one was hurt. The bus driver then got very nasty with the man in the car. But it was the bus driver's fault.

I got off the bus and said to our driver: "It is not the man's fault. It is yours for being on the phone". The man only said "you were on the phone" and the next minute the bus driver had given him such a clout. It was so hard it knocked the man straight off his feet. If that was not bad enough, the man in question was 77 years old.

I helped the man to his feet and as I turned round the bus driver was ready to hit him again. By then I had just about had enough of this bully and told him if he touched the man again I would give him a good hiding. He had a few words to say to me and I told him if he did touch the man again I would knock him into next week. It was his choice.

I am very pleased to say that when the man took the bus driver to court, he pleaded guilty and was fined and warned. The whole incident did not only upset myself and my husband, but also our nephew and granddaughter, who was on her first holiday in Malta.

This is not the sort of thing one wants to see when on holiday and if bus drivers are going to have phones to their ears when driving then I think the buses should have seatbelts fitted. Otherwise they should have their mobile phones taken away and put in the office until they have finished their shift.

I am sorry that I felt it necessary to write this letter, but if Malta values its tourist industry, as it must, then the decline of standards must stop and things must improve.