Vendors' vegetable prices vary according to consumer nationality

I am in total agreement with Louis Parnis (Beverage-Consumer Rights, July 4) that Malta must rank among the least protective countries in the EU towards its consumers. We tend to control one segment of the retailers (the ones who can be easily controlled and have to obey, or else) while other retailers whose votes make a difference during a general election are allowed to charge whatever they want, without any scrutiny. For example, all restaurants, rightly so, have to display their prices on the door of their premises while the various street vendors who roam our streets charge whatever they can extract from the individuals.

Just to prove a point, recently my UK-born wife and I decided to separately approach two vegetable vendors in the Qawra area and enquire about the price of three particular items, and low and behold, the prices quoted to my wife were substantially higher than those quoted to me, which confirms that the prices charged varies according to nationality.

When I spoke to the vendors they both told me that my wife must have misheard the prices they quoted on the three items requested! If the prices were displayed on their products, as they should be and as happens in most countries, such incidents would not occur. Consumer protection in Malta has got a long way to go and one can understand the words "consumer protection" better when one has experience of other countries. We have not scratched the surface yet but I bet "consumer protection" will be high on the political parties' manifestos in the next general elections, as always.