'Residents only' parking restriction lifted

'Last Friday, I was unjustly issued with a parking ticket by warden no. 94 for parking in a space bearing the 'Residents Only' sign. I consider this fine to be illegal as it goes against my fundamental right to park my car in the same place as other citizens. I was not obstructing anyone, and my car was correctly parked within the white box. In the village where I live, I do not have the same privilege and on many occasions do not find a parking place in front of my house as this is generally occupied by other people, even though they are not from our village.

'As you know there is a court judgment delivered by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco (case citation no. 949/2004) - Maria Victoria and Joseph Borg vs the mayor and executive secretary representing Pietà council, that declares that the imposition of the reserved zone for residents is ultra vires and of preferential measure. The request was accepted and declared null and without effect.

'I don't know why Valletta council is breaking the law and instructing wardens to issue such fines. It is no use to advertising that parking in Valletta is free in the evening when most parking places are restricted for residents.

'A copy of this letter is being sent to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and Valletta council.' (Paul Falzon)

Here is the second case:

'I am writing on behalf of my daughter Roberta Mallia, who works with the European Parliament. Exactly on the eve of her stay with us here for a hard-earned holiday, my daughter and a friend decided to go to a wine festival at the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

'Being a Sunday I told her that she could enter Valletta and park, especially as it was after 6 p.m. It completely escaped my mind to warn her of the 'Residents Only' signs all around the streets of Valletta. At 9.16 p.m. a ticket was tucked between the windshield wiper and the windshield.

'Now I ask you:

1. Is court citation no.949/2004 applicable in this offence?

2. Could you please give me the full address of the Petitions Board to try and obtain a waiver?

'My daughter told me that the sign attached to a post was about 100 metres away from where she parked (the upper part of Old Bakery Street near the General Workers' Union building).' (Joseph Mallia)

We have featured other similar cases in which the same issue applies and we have made it crystal clear that "there is a court judgment delivered by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco (case citation no. 949/2004) which declares that the imposition of the reserved zone for residents is ultra vires and of preferential measure." Ultra vires means 'beyond one's legal power or authority'.

The request was accepted and declared null and without effect. Therefore, Mr Mallia, you don't have to worry. To further reassure him and other consumers I am reproducing an excerpt from Edwin Zaffarese's contribution on this issue which was featured on June 1:

'I have read the articles which appeared in the last two issues of The Sunday Times regarding this issue. I would like to inform you that this parking practice is illegal. In fact, myself and other members of my family have had tickets in such '60 minutes/residents parking' spaces in various towns or villages and, on presenting our petition to the Petitions Board, these were waived.

'In support of our request to the Petitions' Board we cited a court sentence delivered by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco on January 31 in court...

'This sentence declares that the imposition of the reserved zone for residents is ultra vires and of preferential measure, and accepted the request by Maria Victoria and Joseph Borg to have the offence declared null and without effect.

'A copy of this sentence can be obtained from the court's website or from the customer care section of the Local Councils Department.

'However, what amazes me most is that this sentence has been delivered for more than a year now and still we have local councils breaking the law. I would presume that both the government and local councils are aware of the sentence; however, they still persist in breaking the law.'

Meanwhile, I am informed that there is a positive development and have received the following message:

'Dear Mr Muscat Inglott,

'What a relief at last. It seems that your message has got through at last. Apparently local councils (including Ta' Xbiex) have been ordered to withdraw the restriction parking that they had unjustly introduced. 'Well done and keep it up.' (Harry Borda)

I thank Mr Borda for his message. At last, we've made it! This is our fourth positively concluded campaign, after we managed to have the 'best before' date printed on milk cartons, personal details removed from our car licence disk, and the satellite dish tax removed.