A local tribunal has ordered traffic wardens to ignore a one-way sign in Attard as it is ‘no longer valid’. The sign’s validity elapsed in July 2012, but wardens continued to hand out fines to motorists who ignored the ‘no access’ sign in Triq il-Linja, next to the residence of the American Ambassador.

The local tribunal, presided over by Justice Commissioner Joe Mifsud, overturned fines issued to two motorists on 16 August 2013 after they protested, potentially opening the floodgates for many more motorists who have already been fined to demand a refund.

Attard local council’s secretary-general Marika Mifsud told the tribunal that on 23 September 2013 the council received an email from Transport Malta warning them that the offending sign has to be removed within two days as “according to our records it is no longer valid”.

The same email warned the council that if it did not comply with the request, Transport Malta would remove the signs at the council’s expense. 

Lo and behold, two days came and went without either the council or Transport Malta taking any action.

The tribunal made it clear that it is not ready to force motorists to pay a fine due to a one-way sign that should not be there in the first place. The sign was still in place as of last Friday.

Attard council told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the road is susceptible to bottlenecks and the one-way system is an effective solution. It said it did not see why fines imposed prior to the tribunal’s ruling should be refunded to motorists but wardens have been informed not to enforce the one-way system.

The council has objected to the cancelling of the one-way system before an effective solution is found with Transport Malta.