Pieta residents Frederick Attard and Alfred Coppola have accused a company called Stivala Wholesale Caterers of causing problems in Ursoline Sisters Street, Pieta. The residents explained that up until recently, cargo containers were placed on the road, causing problems for oncoming vehicles. They argued that the loading and unloading of trucks and the use of forklifts blocks traffic. The noise "at all times of day" is also an issue.
Mr Attard has been posting images and videos of what was taking place on his public Facebook profile.
Recently, Mr Attard was taken to court for allegedly harassing one of the company's managers, Saviour Azzopardi, by taking photographs. In turn, Mr Attard took Mr Azzopardi to court for using offensive language. Mr Attard was acquitted and Mr Azzopardi was fined €75, and was ordered to stay away from Mr Attard and his family for a year against an €800 guarantee.
Pieta mayor Keith Tanti stressed that law and order is not within the remit of the council, however he did meet with the police and the complainants on the matter.
The mayor explained that he personally wrote to the Director of Trade Services Brian Montebello, and was told that the Director would investigate.
The Council offered to assist if legal steps are taken. "Dealing with such an inconvenience is not pleasant. Nobody is happy seeing gigantic containers in and out on the road".
He explained that the Council has already installed 10 CCTV cameras in other parts of the locality and are considering installing such cameras all around the locality including in this zone.
He said that he never spoke with a certain Mr Mario Xuereb (the owner of the company) about the issue.
Last March, Mr Attard sent several photos showing containers on the street and as well as trucks going up the wrong way. He recently held a meeting with a representative of the Home Affairs Ministry, and when contacted, he said he has passed on all the information from the meeting to the Commissioner of Police.
This newsroom attempted to contact Mr Xuereb to no avail.
Mr Attard has also written to Mepa, stating that, aside from the two stores currently in operation, two other garages are "being presently abusively and illicitly used as food stores by Mario Xuereb sole director of Stivala Wholesale Caterers".
This newsroom contacted Dr Ian Stafrace, former Mepa CEO, and asked about laws relating to loading and unloading for stores in a residential area. "As a general rule, a commercial warehouse cannot be located in a residential area. So if someone were to apply to convert a garage or build a warehouse in a residential area today, this application would be refused.
"However, there are a number of warehouses in residential areas which have old permits or licences to operate. There are others which have been operational prior to the enactment of the development planning act of 1992. In such cases one cannot just stop these premises from operating.
"Nonetheless, there are other rules and regulations that ought to be followed, and an operator of such premises cannot operate in a manner as to cause nuisance to neighbouring properties or vehicular traffic. There may be a fine line to distinguish this and it may not be an easy challenge, but as a general rule I would say that if the use of the warehouse is legitimate, the person operating the warehouse must use the premises within acceptable limits."