
Tuesday, 14th October 2008
Stuck for parking
Tickets were based on technical error
Vince Borg with his battle trophies - five parking fines this year. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli
Three overzealous wardens and five parking tickets in just eight months have driven one unhappy driver around the bend.
Vince Borg, who has a sticker on his car's windscreen saying he is allowed to park in the residential zones of Floriana, received five parking tickets this year for doing just that.
The tickets were given by three wardens between February and September, but all were later withdrawn when Mr Borg proved he was in the right.
Although he did not have to pay for the tickets, he feels he has been inconvenienced unnecessarily due to carelessness and incompetence.
A spokesman for the Floriana local council said this was a very rare case that resulted "inadvertently" due to the negligence of the wardens.
He added, however, that Mr Borg did not stick his sticker next to the licence as he was advised to, but chose to put it on the top left corner of the windscreen.
"This made the sticker less visible, but we still had a word with the wardens about it because they should be more careful when giving tickets," the spokesman said.
He explained that when someone receives a ticket from a warden for no good reason, they should go to the board of petitions or the tribunal to have it withdrawn, and if there was a technical error, as is the case with Mr Borg, it would be cancelled immediately.




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Comments
But then I ask what can you expect from wardens given their level of eductaion. They are there just to squeeze money from every potential victim. The irony is that you see them frequently braking the law like talking on mobile while driving, parking on double lines, etc. (Visit onlyinmalta.com and you find a lot of pics).
How idiotic can that be? I had to close my shop to straighten things out...and on walking out after being declared innocent, I asked the warden what he was thinking..and all he said was 'U ijja...zball'... zball my backside! They have a ticket quota, and no-one will ever manage to persuade me otherwise...St.Thomas was indeed a trusting man compared to me!
I am sorry, but this warden thing is simply a cash-cow that we the citizens are feeding incessantly.
Since the wardens should ALL know by now, WHY and How they should issue tickets, then they should be responsible ALSO, for making such silly mistakes, and thus made to pay for damages and inconveniences caused PERIOD.....................!!!!!!
If you all just pay because you can't be bothered going to the tribunal, the wardens have won.
Wardens are probably on some sort of bonus system, the more tickets they give out the more bonus they get, of course they are going to put tickets on any car, hoping the person will just pay up and not complain.
Wake up Malta and stand for your rights.
Who will pay for our time when we 'burn' half a day to justify the error of these trigger-happy wardens.
May some EU legislation guru enighten us humble citiezens on how to pursue our right to claim these deficiencies.
Mr John Bundy this could be a spot for your programme.
What are we to do and whom do we turn to when:
wardens erroniuosly dish out fines and the finee is found to be innocent ?
when we ruin our vehicles due to the bad state of our carrisgeways?
when our vehicle fails the vrt test due to wheel alignment, ball joints, suspension or other and we all know why?
when enemalta, melita cable or any other cable-hanging crazy-enterprise continually plonk wires on our property without asking permission to put the ladder on our land; let alone fix it to our walls?
I have deviated a bit but the theme is why are we not educated as to who has to pay for what mistakes and/or infringements we suffer?
I always pay for mine.
Today this same area has been designated as a parking bay.
The place is at the corner in front of Villa Madama in Balzan. Everyone can check it out !!!
As such the local council has used our public funds to have Double Yellow Lines painted, the contractor did not do his job well. In the process I got fined and had to pay up. Meanwhile the same local council once again has assigned someone to paint a parking bay in the same space out of public funds !!! Who is making money here and at whose expense?
Enough said !
Latest fashion seems to be driving with your (ILLEGAL) fog lights on, the more you blind
oncoming cars the better!
But what the heck, wardens arent around in the evenings!
Ridiculous.
With regards to their traffic offences, we should have wardens to book wardens who do not obey traffic/parking regulations.
you forgot no. 5: Driving through tunnels without using headlights!
1, DRIVING WITHOUT A SEAT BELT
2, CAR PARKED ILLEGALLY ON A DOUBLE LINE OR IN FRONT OF A PASTIZZERIA
3, CIGARETTES THROWN OUT OF WINDOW.
4, USING A MOBILE PHONE WHILST DRIVING
WHO IS GOING TO FINE THEIR ACTIONS
THESE ARE THING YOU SEE EVERY DAY
THE SAYING "IF YOU BEAT THEM JOIN THEM COMES TO MIND"
As the law stands right now, wardens can ticket every single car on the roads in Malta with impunity and wait for a tenth of the victims to initiate procedures.
You should have sent a registered petition to the Board for Petitions at P.O. Box 41 Valletta.
NEVER PAY BUT CHALLENGE
I wrote to the Valletta Council to complain and also ADT for their shoddy and careless way of painting lines without erasing old ones. I was ignored by both and the cheek was I received a court order. I wrote back and reluctantly paid the penalty because of my busy schedule.
What is even more irritating is that you hear excuses as the one offered by the spokesman in this article.
However the topping insult is that citezens' time is considered as an expendable item. NO I do not WANT to write to any petitions Board. NO I do not want to waste my time justifying my just cause. What peole want is equal justice. If an incompetent warden was the cause for wasting my time then, as I am held accountable for infringing a traffic regulation and made to PAY for it, then such a warden MUST be held accountable for his/her incompetence and pay for it in Euros. Touch people's pockets and then they will understand what it means to do your job well.
People, continue to write and object to these discriminatory practices. They are ILLEGAL.
Oh Come on!! I cannot believe the spokeman had any brain cells to utter that! Does that mean the the wardens and even the local council have such NARROW VISION?!! The spokeman needs to apologise on behalf of the wardens and not try to find the lamest of all excuses in defence of his lost battle!
I, too, have the permit to park in the residential parking lots in Floriana. My sticker is very visible on the right top corner of the windscreen, just centimetres away from the driving licence.
Contrary to Mr Borg, I found nothing affixed to my windscreen and was only aware of my "infringement" after I received a "Tahrika" to appear in court on the 27 October. Please note that this "tahrika" was received on the 23 September, forty five days after i was unjustly booked.
Following my letter to the Board of Petitions, I received an acknowledgement in which they advised me "that all Tribunal procedures have been temporarily suspended until the Board considers your petition"
RE the Times report:-
"A spokesman for the Floriana local council said this was a very rare case that resulted "inadvertently" due to the negligence of the wardens.
He added, however, that Mr Borg did not stick his sticker next to the licence as he was advised to, but chose to put it on the top left corner of the windscreen.
"This made the sticker less visible, but we still had a word with the wardens about it because they should be more careful when giving tickets," the spokesman said."
That is blatantly ridiculous. That statement holds no water. Too childish thus not acceptable.
I think that Mr.Borg deserves a compensation from the Floriana Local Council.
Myopic bananas
Defy the system which is discriminating against you.
The residents parking system discriminates against drivers who are not from the locality.
Discrimination is prohibited, so the system is discriminatory, illegal, abusive and anti-constitutional.
If you find a ticket send a registered petition to the Board for Petitions, P.O. Box 41 Valletta explaining the circumstances of the case and a copy of the ticket.
Once you send your petition ignore any summons to appear before the Local Tribunal because if you appear you will be renouncing to the petition.
Drivers unite against arrogant Local Councils and wardens companies who are skinning you alive.
That I understand. However since the technical error was made by the warden, will Mr. Citizen get compensation for the time he wasted to go to the tribunal and so on?
Will the warden be made to pay this money?
Someone who goes to contest his fine easily wastes 2-3 hrs. Time is money. Who's paying?