Traffic fines by the beach (1)

I am the owner of a private apartment in Mellieħa which is used by my family. There are currently seven members of my family using the apartment.

At my recommendation they all decided to visit the beach at Mellieħa Bay.

They parked their two hire cars on the seafront at Mellieħa along with all the other cars visiting the bay. On return to the cars both had been issued with parking tickets, as had other hire cars, but not any private Maltese cars.

There were no “no parking” signs where they parked and it was explained by a local lady, who also had a hire car and was ticketed, that this was a method being used to raise funds for the local police.

So is this another form of taxation on visitors to Mellieħa who have decided to hire cars from local companies? If they visit Mellieħa Bay over the next two weeks will they receive parking tickets each day? Not a great start to their holidays and not a great incentive to get tourists to visit Mellieħa.

Could someone in authority from Mellieħa explain exactly what is happening with regard to parking at the bay for tourist hire cars?