In 2005, all the doors in the road where I reside in Fgura were renumbered and we were warned in writing by the police that legal action may be taken against those who failed to comply within seven days.

Yet, a travel agency further up the road from my residence still retains the old door number. I have complained to the local police station, to the police headquarters in Floriana and to the local council. I complained that because of this shortcoming mail addressed to me went missing and received letters that did not belong to me but I was told it was not their responsibility.

Then, I was given a phone number by somebody from the council and, when I called there, I was directed to the door numbering unit but to no avail. However, this unit gave me another number and a name. I was told this was the “electoral department”,  and given a name to ask for.

When I spoke to the person indicated to me, I was told the police had the authority of enforcement in such cases taken away from them a good number of years ago. However, the “electoral department” will now look into the matter and advise the travel agency to change the number. They also told me they still had no power of enforcement because the relevant law had yet to be enacted. They said they had been waiting for some time now and did not know when or, even, whether this simple piece of legislation would get through Parliament.