The sorry saga of the dumped car in Triq ta’ Masrija, Mellieħa, rumbles on.

Dumped in October last year (licence expired September), it was reported three times with no success (on the last occasion, I was told police claimed the car was licensed). A letter to the sister paper on May 29 with a photograph of the expired licence resulted in a police notice affixed to the windscreen two days later, giving eight days notice for the vehicle to be removed (deadline June 8).

Nothing happened, so a second letter to the newspaper on July 10 brought a police officer to the vehicle on July 14 to affix another notice, this time from the council, again giving eight days for the car to be removed.

At the time of writing, the vehicle remains there, dirty, rusting, gathering rubbish underneath... and sitting on pieces of brick, as its four wheels have been whisked away! (see picture)

But this is Malta, where lack of enforcement rules the day. The car’s registration number is there for the authorities to trace the owner. Perhaps they are waiting to celebrate its first anniversary in a month’s time before finally having the eyesore removed.