A total of 147 vehicles were clamped at Mater Dei in the first nine months of the year, compared with 567 for the whole of 2017, according to the Health Minister.

Calculated over a full year, assuming that the rate is constant during the year, this would be only a third of the previous year's figures.

Health Minister Chris Fearne was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina, who asked for the data for all the years from 2013 to date. However, only the 2017 and 2018 figures were given.

The operations of the car park were recently passed on to a new entity, and people took to social media for what they perceived to be a surge in clamping.

Read: Surge in vehicle clamping raises questions, complaints at Mater Dei Hospital

In some cases, authorised employees and third parties were also clamped incorrectly, and the ministry had confirmed that in these cases the operator cooperated to refund in line with its contractual obligations.

“Following the awarding of the new hospital parking contract, MDH management is working to address teething problems to allow the best traffic management without putting undue pressure on staff or visitors,” the ministry spokesperson had said, urging users to follow parking directions and traffic regulations.

The previous operator had run the parking area for 10 years.

In reply to another PQ by Dr Aquilina, Dr Fearne said that there were 1,418 places in the underground car park, of which 958 were for staff and 460 for visitors.