Unloading sign and parking bay illegal
'Bays are to be shared by commercial outlets'
An unloading parking bay in George Borg Olivier Street, St Julians, does not have the necessary permits and the council has been instructed to remove it, The Times has learnt.
The Malta Transport Authority (ADT) wrote to the St Julians local council giving it time to remove the unloading bay and sign in front of an ice-cream shop because this had been put up without permission.
Last month, the council had asked the ADT to look into the reason why the times displayed on an unloading sign had been covered up with white tape.
The parking space had been reserved for unloading between 2 and 7 p.m. but all of a sudden, the times were covered up and residents were being fined for parking there 24 hours a day.
When the ADT looked into the matter, it found that not only were the times covered illicitly, but the sign and unloading bay were also illegal and had been placed there without permission.
An ADT spokesman explained that in June 2005, the St Julians council had requested a loading and unloading bay specifically in front of Gelat D'Or.
The request was turned down on the grounds that the shop was not eligible for the bay.
The spokesman explained that such bays were to be shared by commercial outlets and not assigned to one particular shop.