José Herrera, the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for local councils,recently announced a reform in the wardens section. This is good news for the majority of the Maltese people.

I have been telling local councillors that Victoria is dying a slow death, but to no avail. All they need to do is ask the shop owners

The original aim of the wardens system was to establish order in parking on our streets and to shoulder work normally carried out by the police.

Instead, it turned into a money-making machine for personal agencies and council financing. Wardens have become loathed by many. Instead of friendly and helpful, many see this unit as a despot.

Several wardens have adopted the habit of hiding between cars or just around a corner with pen and notebook in hand, writing down citations. Some imaginary and some not.

I believe the law indicates quite clearly that prevention is better than cure. Also, citations are to be handed out when a person does not heed a warning or ignores instructions. It is definitely not intended to raise money for the agency or councils.

In a particular court sitting in Gozo, a Maltese warden stationed there took up the whole of two hours, all by himself, presenting his citations. Most of his cases were based on signalling drivers to stop for some miscellaneous wrongdoing, when he was stationed around a corner.

Victoria is dying a slow but sure death in view of the enormous number of warden citations doled out in this locality.

I pity the Maltese and foreigners visiting the city, as they become the prey of wardens, who have established that one has to have a timer displayed on the car dashboard and not to park for more than an hour and a half.

The cardboard timers were first handed out free by the council and later against a payment from the bus terminus. Locals know about this but the Maltese or foreigners do not. To add insult to injury, these timers are most often unavailable even when people ask for them – one is informed they are “out of stock”.

Tourists and Maltese who park their vehicles properly in a parking space also tend to be greeted with a citation. Why? Because no timer was displayed on the dashboard.

This is not only short-sighted but in my view discriminatory. It has been going on for years. The council seems happy as it is getting its share of the revenue, not realising that slowly but surely it is killing business in Victoria.

Another misguided decision is the time limit imposed for car parking in Victoria. The limit is for one and a half hours. If one exceeds it he is faced with a €23.29 fine. An hour or two is surely not long enough to go shopping, visit the hairdresser or have a coffee if that is the purpose of one’s visit to Victoria.

This means that people are reluctant to enter the city. I have been writing articles and telling local councillors that Victoria is dying a slow death, but to no avail. All they need to do is ask the shop owners.

Some councillors mistakenly air the view that since Victoria is a business centre, workers take up a good portion of the limited amount of parking space, to the detriment of residents. My reply has always been that no one has a monopoly on the city. Gozo and Victoria belong to one and all. The only solution lies in providing more parking spaces.

This can be done through underground facilities or other measures. It’s been years since the Victoria council came into existence, headed by several different mayors over the years, so how is it that it has not yet adopted a clear-cut solution to the problem? If it wasn’t done in the past, experts could be nominated to propose a parking facilities plan.

There are other parking traps in Gozo, although limited to the summer months. These are Xlendi and Marsalforn. Mġarr is an exception due to the fact that Gozitan workers cross over to Malta for work and use their own personal transport to and from the ferry terminal.

It is irritating and costly for a family, after perhaps having a relaxing time by the sea with the children or grandchildren or taking a bite to eat, to find another €23.29 added to their costs.

I urge Herrera to take this issue up when evaluating future policies on the warden service.

They should not be used as the treasury for councils or commercial companies.