We are being preyed upon regularly by wardens and now also by Transport Malta staff. I can very well accept beingcautioned by a warden who comes across an infringement.

What I find unacceptable are the methods being used. They prey in areas where there are insufficient parking spaces,be it close to a shopping centre,an entertainment area or evena pharmacy. Their new ploy is to hide their car close to the Regional Road tunnel or the tunnel at the Point and suddenly pounce out to book you for not having your headlights on.

When they are in an area with enough parking spaces they instead check all the licences of the cars parked there.

Apart from when it involves cranes or roadworks, I have never seen a warden direct traffic or stop a vehicle emitting heavy exhaust. In the knowledge of how many cars are on our roads, wardens should be more lenient and let people off with a warning. I do wonder what they do when they are being mere mortals and driving around on their errands, not finding anywhere to park.

Is there any truth in a recent article in a newspaper that wardens’ salaries are linked to the number of fines they issue? To make matters worse, Transport Malta employees are also checking that farce of a bus lane at the Strand and Gżira. The other morning two of them were ensuring that we all queued up on the remaining lane.

I ask them to report back to their bosses on the queues that form all the way from the Point to the Manoel Island bridge. Instead of easing the situation on our roads, Transport Malta’s bus lane has created a mess. But it is always the man on the road that has to face the music.