Are residents' parking schemes illegal?

Well Mr Busuttil?

From your letter on The Times it seems that you keep track of the comments posted online.

So what is your reaction?

Is it really the wardens or the local councils who are not respecting this judgment? I don't know how things operate, but I'd imagine that it is the councils who should remove those discriminatory parking signs, not the wardens who should ignore them.

Hmmm, I wonder how the residents of Pietà and similar places would react if they arrived at some other city and found a sign saying "Parking permitted except for residents of Pietà"?

@L Galea. Thank you.

Trust a local warden to interpret a Court Judgement!! Even if that pronounced by Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco is not appealed from, it is still a Court Judgement and has to be obeyed by all and sundry in all localitiies. Full stop.

TONY FORMOSA
Parking is a major problem anywhere in Malta .So just imagine an area in the square in front of St.Luke's Hospital being reserved for persons with disability when there is so much space inside the said Hospital, if it being used for treament of those with disability (massages!) tho' it is understood that now everything has been moved to Mater Dei.
It's just a waste of priceless empty space which gives much delight to Police Inspectors who order their subordinates to issue tickets to those parking on a double line which should have been long removed.

The decision was appealed.
I was fined on May 20 in Pieta and wrote to the Petitons Board and complained about the matter. They wrote back and said " The Petitions board have received your communication and all Tribunal procedures have been temporarily suspended. In the meantime, you are to ignore all Tribunal summons received before the boards petition" I did not pay the fine and till today not other correspondence about the matter was received.

In Malta we do not have local taxes. What a resident of Mellieha pays in tax partly finances the local council of Birzebbugia. And what a driver pays in road licence fee entitles him or her to access to all roads, including parking, without discrimination.

According to Article 45 of our Constitution, “no law shall make any provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its effect” and “no person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of any public office or any public authority”.
Article 45 of the supreme law also lays down the meaning of discrimination: “the expression ‘discriminatory’ means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions by race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed or sex”.
In the same Constitutional article, it is provided that such discrimination is not banned so far as it affects persons who are not citizens of Malta. Therefore, “place of origin” clearly signifies a Maltese place of origin.

This Constitutional article is very clear and means that there can be time limitations in parking (eg parking only for an hour, parking from 7pm to 9am, no parking in front of a shop during opening hours), space limitations (eg no parking at all, no parking but waiting permitted), but there CANNOT be a parking limitation according to one’s place of origin (ie where the car owner lives).

The Constitution is above any other law and Local Councils, wardens and their companies are very clearly abusing car owners’ rights to have access without any discrimination to public roads and public parking spaces.

We might dislike it, but the law is the law, and even more, this is the supreme law of the land.

Mr Mizzi,
As far as I know, since the time for an appeal has long passed it is considered as a res judicata, i.e. final judgment, therefore binding.

Has this judgement been appealed?