Illegal no parking signs

I am a resident of Triq il-Qaliet in St Julians. For a number of months, a hotel at the top of the road had a sign prohibiting parking during certain hours of the day affecting one parking space. In the evening of June 2, I parked my car in an adjacent bay and was surprised to find a parking ticket fixed to my windscreen later the following day. I found that a new sign had been erected (my suspicion being that it was done that same morning) such that a total of three bays, including the original one, were now affected and in a matter of hours our ever-efficient wardens had already done their work.

Since I thought my car was parked there before the new sign was put up and wished to contest the contravention, I made my way to the local council office. Once there, I explained my situation, asking for something in writing stating when the sign was fixed so that I could defend my case but the best help they could offer was to tell me to contact the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) since it alone authorises these signs and would be able to tell me when they were put up.

Not wanting to let go and after writing a letter to the traffic management directorate at the ADT explaining what I needed, I finally got my answer. Believe it or not, according to the letter I received, these signs were never even approved from their end.

Since these signs are illegal, I would like to know what steps the local council and the ADT are now going to take against the persons responsible for putting up these signs since every day a number of motorists are being unfairly fined because of them. Should not these same bodies somehow monitor which signs are legal or not, especially in localities where finding a place to park is problematic?

I resorted to writing this letter since I did try to contact the mayor of St Julians at the council office to sort out the matter, both in person and by phone, on July 18, 19, 22, 25 and 26 at the times indicated by the staff when it was most likely to find him there but never did. Since I was told he does not take appointments, give out his contact number or really have fixed hours, I even left my own number but still have not received a call in return. When I expressed my obvious frustration to the council staff, I was informed that all councillors work on a purely voluntary basis so I could not expect them to be so available.