Legal vs illegal parking in Marsascala

I live in St Joseph Street, Marsascala. It's that stretch of road going towards Zonqor that is one way, round the back of the one way seafront road. There are yellow lines on the other side of the road together with a no parking sign.

On my side of the road, there is a stretch of about 30 metres with no yellow lines, followed by a no parking sign with a single arrow attached. According to the Malta Highway Code this means parking restrictions start on the far side of the arrow, in the direction the arrow points. This is absolutely logical, as the road narrows at the point of the sign.

However, it also makes it clear that there are no parking restrictions prior to the point where the sign states No Parking.

Pretty simple stuff, you might think, but much too complicated for the Zabbar police officers who have booked me and, later, also a friend visiting me. Indeed, on this stretch of road I have seen at least six cars with parking tickets on the windscreen. My parking ticket was issued in August. I appealed. I was told a Petitions Board would hear my case on December 3 but in the event they decided to cancel the ticket I was to do nothing until I heard from them. The date has come and gone. No word.

I e-mailed the top ranking police officer in Zabbar about this in August. No word. His officers continue to book cars on this stretch of road. This happened up to last week when I myself saw cars with parking tickets on them..

I have written to the Traffic Police Department. No word.

I have informed the mayor of Marsascala who, technically, issued the summons to attend the Petition Hearing. Mario Calleja is a friend. He asked to be kept informed of any date set.

Here is my reasoning. They at last realise they have made a huge mistake, or know they have been found out, which points not only to the incompetence of the Zabbar police officers but also questions the competence of their chief for failure to instruct his officers not to book legally parked cars. I am wondering if their solution is never to tell me the ticket has been cancelled and never to invite me to a hearing.

That way, they hope I will forget the whole matter and the police or the local council will get to keep the fines paid by possibly 100 or more every year who have simply paid up for parking legally on this stretch of road.

If the board takes more than four months to decide a clear cut case of an illegal parking ticket, how long do they take on traffic accidents and other serious matters?

Is this simply a ploy to raise money, banking on the fact that many Maltese seem to live in fear of the police and would therefore rather pay the €22 than argue their case?

Perhaps I will now suffer police harassment for writing this letter to the press but any society which lives in fear of its Police Force can never claim to be democratic. It is on the slippery slope to becoming a police state.