On behalf of residents I appeal to the authorities to do whatever is necessary to address the urgent situation at the Milner/Amery Street junction in Sliema.

Despite the laws regulating noise abatement and pollution, this spot is a dangerous and chaotic free-for-all for three or four mornings a week. Delivery truck drivers and shop owners seem to think that this junction is their private back yard. Large eight-metre trucks park on double yellow lines, blocking traffic coming up Milner Street and driving into Amery Street.

What is really stressing is the noise of the refrigerating compressors on top of the driver’s cabin which the delivery men keep running for, at times, up to 20 minutes, until it is their time to deliver their goods. The noise decibels from these compressors is surely above that permitted by law for a parked vehicle and is disturbing the peace of this residential area to the extent that having a conversation in the nearby houses is difficult.

There is also a danger to pedestrians, including mothers with toddlers and pushchairs or people with wheelchairs who have to manoeuvre themselves through the narrow spaces between the parked trucks on their way up or down Amery Street. To do this they often have to walk off the pavement onto the busy road to go round the trucks blocking their way. Police patrols and wardens just look the other way when passing down this part of the street, making the situation seem acceptable.

The residents have made various requests to the authorities to organise the traffic in this junction. All to no avail. This is an accident waiting to happen and we again appeal to the responsible authorities to act before someone is seriously hurt.