Lee Berger, St Julian's
Wardens have a job to do (2)
Edward Zammit displays a level of arrogance which, if left unchecked, sends an unacceptable message not only to drivers but also to other members of society who believe that they have the choice if and when to obey the law.
Mr Zammit admits that he parked in front of a 'No Stopping' sign. Why did he believe that he could ignore it? Because "there was neither traffic nor queues inside"? Did the sign indicate that the driver had the choice to ignore the sign if he felt like it? Or does Mr Zammit believe that there should be a level of breach which is acceptable?
The traffic warden was right to send a message to Mr Zammit who should consider himself lucky that his car was not towed away. That would certainly have been a lesson not quickly forgotten.
Mr Zammit suggests that the warden 'discriminated' against him presumably because she also parked in the 'No Stopping' area. Where else does he suggest the warden should have parked to deal with his breach of the law?
I am not a great believer that democracy works nor indeed that we who live in Malta, or anywhere else, live in what the western world would define as democracy, but it is the closest we are going to get. To assume and to outwardly demonstrate that we can ignore the law imposed by an apparently democratically elected leadership is the slippery slope to anarchy.
I say more power to the traffic wardens in their attempt to alleviate the increasing traffic and parking problems in Malta.
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Matthew Borg
Aug 10th 2008, 20:25
I was parked in a loading/unloading zone in Balzan on a Tuesday afternoon around a week ago at a time when the sign does not apply to the space that I was parked in. I was given a ticket (by a police officer, I didn't know they still had the right to give parking tickets!) but seeing that I knew I was correctly parked there, I went to the Police Station to explain that the ticket was wrongly given and that I shouldn't be liable to paying the fine.
The policeman - who was extremely polite, just for the record - immediately admitted his mistake, revoked the ticket and apologised for the inconvenience caused. If only all wardens or police who make such mistakes (and they do so, on a frequent basis) were like this! It was refreshing to see such a sight, a very uncommon one on these islands!
Karl Consiglio
Aug 10th 2008, 18:50
This kind of story is to repeat itself till the end of days, there are way too many cars for such a small island, today Malta is but one big garage. I'm sure that this fella did not park in that spot to purposely breach the law, he probably had as little choice as the warden. Giving more power to wardens will only make matters worse. There are way better solutions, but society at large lacks the discipline.
J. Schembri
Aug 10th 2008, 17:59
In the tribunals you are considered guilty unless you prove your innocence! How's that for justice?
R.Curmi
Aug 10th 2008, 13:58
A car is towed away when left alone. If Mr. Lee Berger had read properly Mr.Zammit letter (3rd August), he will have seen that the car was not left alone. His wife was in the car and she offered to move it herself. I understood Mr. Zammit frustration because the warden still slapped the fine even though the car was going to be moved. Power to the wardens?? Don’t they have enough power that they themselves are abusing the system? You are either very naive or have an agenda. Get the statistics of how many tickets are revoked by the tribunal and you will see the abusive way wardens are slapping fines. And what does the citizen get back for the wasted time to show in front of a tribunal when he wins his case. Nothing, the warden gets scot free, and you want to give them more power????
Philip Grech
Aug 10th 2008, 12:17
what we need is not strict wardens but honest ones. stopping to load from some outlet is ok while stopping in front of another is not.
mario aquilina
Aug 10th 2008, 12:07
The other weekend, on a Saturday evening, I was standing by the Park lane Hotel, situated a few meters away from Qawra Police Station, when a car came the wrong way, down a one way street .
From there, I walked along Tourist Street, In the direction to Qawra Church, and in that short period that it took me to get there, I counted three more occasions of cars going the wrong way up or down, a one way street.
That's four people breaking the law, and putting other peoples life in danger in less than twenty minutes.
Such occurrence happens on a daily basis, on this island, where everybody does whatever one wants, knowing that he or she can get away with it.
I believe, that yes, we do need strict Traffic Wardens, to cut the abuse that the Maltese people are accustomed to.