Yvette Busuttil, Marsascala
Wardens play hide and seek
Last Saturday week I travelled to Gozo for the Nadur wine festival. Arriving at Cirkewwa at about 8 p.m. I realised there was no parking space available.
The only available space was in a line that was forming outside the designated parking spaces. The cars parked within this line did not block other vehicles.
Having no other option, I tried my luck and joined the line.
We boarded the 9 p.m. ferry and as it was departing we witnessed wardens come out of their hiding place and slap fines on all the cars parked outside the allocated spaces.
Rather than stop the cars from parking irregularly, they waited for the passengers to leave and then issued the parking tickets. Is this the way to 'educate' the public?
Or was this just another exercise to generate revenue? It appears to be a fact that wardens are more intent on reaching the quota of tickets they need to issue than improving traffic management.
What a shame!
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Pete.Aquilina
Sep 14th 2009, 15:34
I understand alot of the blogs below, and there is me am at this moment in time unemployed and was just going to apply for a job as a Warden in Gozo, on second thoughts i rather join the Army.
Ramon Casha
Sep 14th 2009, 06:01
@GiovDeMartino: Did you actually bother to READ the letter? The complaint is not that wardens give out parking tickets, but that they could have informed the drivers not to park there and instead chose to wait until the ferry left the dock so that drivers could not remove cars parked outside the designated areas, in order to generate more revenue for the company that owns them.
GiovDeMartino
Sep 13th 2009, 20:18
Bl-edukazzjoni ma tasal imkien...tinsewx li mahna pajjiz tal-MMouse. Iva min jikser il-ligi jehel multa u ma jissograx jerga' Araw il-basktijiet tal-plastik kif inqatghu ISSA li GONZIPN capcpilhom prezz. Issa kulhadd jigri bil-basket f'idu!!!! Jekk il-warden jaghtik citazzjoni ghax pajjiz tal-MMouse. Jekk il-warden ma jaghtix citazzjoni lil haddiehor, ukoll ghax pajjiz tal-MMOuse. H A Q Q E K!
Martin Spitery
Sep 13th 2009, 17:53
The Government knows about this gross misbehaviour and allows it because gozo is gozo and it means less votes so better let them do what they like because they will pay the government back by not voting.
Mark Vella
Sep 13th 2009, 17:46
It usual in Gozo.....
and the Maltese get fined and the Gozo residents do not! I experienced this in two different scenarios this year, and Gozo will not see me for quite some time!
In fact rather than spending my holidays there, i'll be spending them abroad from now on!
j micallef
Sep 13th 2009, 17:33
The most important phrase in Ms Busuttil's letter is her question: "Is this the way to 'educate' the public?" My answer is YES, YES and YES. Ms Busuttil may be one of a very rare breed (almost extinct) who may become "educated" after a warden's warning, and who would refrain from repeating even just once again, the same traffic offence she confessed to in her letter. The rest will just struggle not to laugh out aloud as soon as the warden who tries to "educate" them by a warning, turns his back and walks away. The only "education" that may have a lasting effect on most transgressors is the one that hurts their pockets, and I have nothing to hold against wardens or policemen who resort to what is so endearingly termed "hide-and-seek" tactics, if this is what it takes to bring some sanity to our anything-goes mentality.
Adrian Borg
Sep 13th 2009, 16:13
"What a shame!"???
SHAME ON YOU because you broke the law and are writing on Malta's leading and most respected newspaper to complain that you got booked for your wrongdoing! Vera hawn nies ma jisthu minn xejn!
mary Pace
Sep 13th 2009, 15:04
The Law is there to obey,& for everyone,not when it's suit us only,so you break it , you pay fine!!! you should know better. HAQQEK!!!
Jamie Sawyer
Sep 13th 2009, 14:33
From where i am sitting it very much looks that the Gozitans are desperate for money and the perfect victims are generally the Maltese visitors or the tourists who cannot speak or read English ' Someone called them the well known phrase for a Gozitan warden :The Vultures: Now i know why the Maltese and the Gozitans are not each others cup of tea.,and to treat the Maltese visiters namly me for one with this sort of a slimy way of obtaining money, cause this is whats its all about obtianing money from people mostly from outside the dead island of Gozo. Well its off my agenda for the next 20 years as i will not be returning, besides we got everything we need in Malta and all the entrainment we need.
Mark Galea
Sep 13th 2009, 13:40
At least these were Maltese wardens! not Gozitans!
Joseph Cauchi
Sep 13th 2009, 12:07
@ Giov. Demartino,
How pathetic!
JC.
Charles A. Zahra
Sep 13th 2009, 12:07
I agree with Giov. DeMartino but parking outside parking bays does not necessarily mean that you are breaking the law. if you are convinced that the place where you were parked did not break any law and there was no 'no parking sign', yellow lines, corners etc, you should contest it. You can easily do this also in writing rather than appearing at the tribunal, i am informed.
Eric Camilleri
Sep 13th 2009, 11:51
@ GiovDeMartino
And you want to be taken seriously when you pretend to preach your morals to us all !
Ms Busuttil's point is not the merited fine perse but the entrapment tactics by wardens.
The name of their game is not education but money making for the system and its masters !
alfred zammit
Sep 13th 2009, 11:48
Yvette,Iagree 100% with what you said.Wardens should be educators and instructors.Who is going to suffer from your incident?All Gozitans as you will think twice about going again to Gozo at least for similar occassions.The wardens cowardice method of reaching their quota will be to the detriment of the hotels,restaurants shops in general and the ferry.MA narawx salo ponta ta imnehirna!!!!!!!!
Emanuel Muscat
Sep 13th 2009, 11:46
Mr Demartino, I take your opinion for whatever it is worth. O. This is a tangible proof of cowardice, and bullying. The warden should have faced the people either to educate them, if he or his bosses or whoever made the' ligi' knows what the word means, or else to hand them the ticket. The way things are done make it obvious that the only objective in this warden business is making money for the chosen few., with the government being an accomplice in this injustice. Mr Fenech Conti saw it more ludicrous in holding on to his share than his ADT job when his conflict of interest was brought to daylight. No warden or his boss ever mentioned the dangers of walking on a pavement, etc etc, Int ghidt haqqek u jien nghid "Halluna". Remove all speed cameras and give us back our traffic policemen, who made more sense.
Herbert Guillaumier
Sep 13th 2009, 10:53
They play hide and seek on the Rabat road just a corner away from Mount Carmel Hospital; they play the game in Iklin valley down the road from Naxxar towards Iklin; and very recently I've seen them playing hide and seek in December 13 road Marsa, on the first stage towards Valletta just opposites the match factory.
Drivers beware the hungry wolf tactics of the heartless uneducated wardens.
GiovDeMartino
Sep 13th 2009, 10:36
HAQQEK! Tiksirx il-ligi