I am convinced that the wardens are given a daily quota of tickets they have to issue, so, irrespective of common sense, logic or motorists' education, they give out tickets recklessly. Like many drivers, I have been a victim of this behaviour.

I have been booked because I parked a few centimetres short of the required distance from a corner. I have been booked for not having the car parked exactly between the lines. I have been booked because I did not display the blue time-keeper (at the time I didn't even know it existed). I have been booked because one of my car's back wheels mounted the pavement. I have been booked because overnight someone declared an area a no parking zone. I have been booked because half way through the tunnel (that is when I remembered about it) I switched on the lights.

I could carry on and on... All I know is that the wardens have made a small fortune out of me. I had the right to contest most of these tickets however my time is valuable, as is the case for most other citizens, and I am more productive at work.

I ask the wardens and, I am sure the public is as curious as I am, to please give us statistics of: how many fines have been issued 1) to bus/coach drivers for exhaust pollution and for not stopping in the bus stop bays when un/loading passengers and causing a traffic jam in the process, 2) to taxi owners driving like maniacs, 3) to mini bus drivers loaded with school children and driving recklessly, 4) to tourist coach drivers stopping in the middle of the road, 5) to drivers of concrete mixers leaving concrete on the road especially on hills, 6) to drivers of trucks carrying debris uncovered, 7) to drivers of trucks loaded with goods not secured, 8) to persons, including drivers, caught littering and 9) to owners walking their dogs and not cleaning after them.

This is just a short list of infringements that occur every day all over Malta.

The initial idea of the wardens was great and some of us needed discipline, but there is a limit to this madness. The scope and attitude of the wardens has to change, they have to be more compassionate and use common sense.

I feel that if someone is fined and a person contests such fine and wins because the warden was capricious, the driver should be rewarded for the time wasted in attending the hearing.

It is well and good that the government has come up with this warden system and that monies are being collected and distributed among local councils, but what about the responsibility of the government regarding the roads? They are in a terrible state. And who compensates a driver when his/her car is damaged because of the state of the roads? What about creating more parking areas instead of reducing such space? What about the abuse of reserved parking lots?

I hope I touched on issues that irritate the common citizen. Unfortunately, no one does anything about it.

An answer by the respective authorities would be appreciated.

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