Residents in Gerry Street, Gżira, are wondering what they should resort to next after their complaints to the police and the planning authority about an illegal car wash operated from a garage on their street led nowhere.
The police shut the place down and forced the owners to remove a sign that advertised the car wash but the operation has otherwise continued unhindered.
The residents complained to the planning authority because the garage needs to have a planning permit to operate as a commercial outfit, but to no avail. Enforcement officers visited the place but were told the garage was used as a store and that the cars washed there belonged to the owner.
The Sunday Times of Malta visited the garage last Tuesday at 12.20pm for a car wash. The place looks like a regular garage and there is no signage but as soon as we drove up to the door, an employee approached the driver, confirming the garage was operating a car wash. There were four workers at the time, all wearing red T-shirts and boots, and they tend to two cars at a time.
Neighbours lamented about the noisy operation. Using multiple power-wash pumps to rinse the cars, the noise is very loud and relentless – when the second pump stops, the other one starts. The industrial vacuum cleaner adds to the noise. The car was washed in less than 20 minutes and another was waiting outside. The man who took care of it asked for €6.50.
He was given a €10 note, brought the change from the cubicle inside, which serves as a cash office, but brought no fiscal receipt with him. When confronted with the evidence, including pictures of the operation, a spokesman for Mepa said that when its own enforcement officers visited the place, the cars washed there were imported cars registered to the owner.
However, he insisted the garage did not have a permit to operate a car wash, adding that the authority would be investigating.
The garage is owned by Paul Caruana, owner of the Maxims Pastizzerija franchise, but he does not actually run the place. He said the people who run the garage wash their own cars but when confronted with the fact that we washed a car against payment this week, he said he would put the newspaper in touch with his tenants. They failed to get back by yesterday.
The garage used to be rented by Tony Cutajar, owner of Onetime Garage. However, when contacted, he said he had nothing to do with it anymore, even though he defended the car wash, saying the people there wash private cars and that in any case, the operation could not possibly bother the neighbours.