The Archbishop, the priest and the mayor

The St Paul's Bay council yesterday had to deal with an unusual issue - a reserved parking slot in front of a property that has raised the ire of the property's owner, a priest.

What is unusual about the issue is that the slot has been reserved for... the Archbishop, who has a summer residence in the area. This was done "for security reasons".

Fr George Schembri wrote a letter to the council saying he was informed that the slot, reserved for a specific car and situated right in front of his and his sister's garage in St Francis Street, was "abusive and illegal".

The letter was discussed by the council during its meeting yesterday and it was pointed out that although the property had a garage door it was impossible for it to be used as a garage.

Fr Schembri insisted with the council that the car registration number should be removed from the slot immediately or he would be constrained to take ulterior action, especially since a warden had "arrogantly threatened" a motorist who had stopped his vehicle on the slot for a few minutes to unload some items.

It was decided that the council should refer the case to the Malta Transport Authority.