In a land where parking spaces come at a premium, some individuals have come up with novel ways of ensuring that they always find a parking space when they return home after a day’s work.
One of these practices is to use a motorcycle or scooter to hog your favourite parking spot during the day, removing it in the evening, and parking your car in its stead. The process is repeated every day, with the result that that particular parking spot becomes the ‘personal property’ of the person resorting to these selfish means.
This newspaper has come across several cases where this practice is being adopted. In most cases it is quite clear that the scooters are never actually driven on the road – their sole purpose is to ‘reserve’ a parking spot for the owner’s other vehicle.
In some cases, the scooters lacked a tax disc, in others the vehicles used were relics from a different era, and quite obviously not in working condition. In some cases the owners might not even know how to drive a two-wheeler.
It also seems that the egocentric practice became more common after licence fees for motorcycles and scooters of a certain engine power were drastically reduced over the past few years.
In 2015 the government had announced that the licence fee for motorcycles and scooters with an engine capacity not exceeding 125cc was going down to a flat €10 per year. Furthermore, holders of a Category B (car) licence did not need to pay anything else and do not need a different licence to drive motorcycles and scooters of the same power limit.
Then, in this year’s budget (announced last November), the government introduced grants of up to €400 for anyone purchasing a motorcycle, scooter or electric bike.
These chances were intended to encourage more people to switch to two-wheeled vehicles in a bid to ease traffic congestion. But some people found that it was easier and much more affordable to buy a second-hand scooter solely as a means to ‘reserve’ a parking bay.
This means that those who are resorting to this selfish system need only pay for the initial purchase of the scooter or motorbike, with no additional cost from then on.
The egocentric process naturally infuriates the more respectful residents who, after a hard day at work struggle to find somewhere to park their car. But as selfish as it is, the practice is not actually illegal.
From a police perspective
A police spokesperson told The Malta Independent on Sunday that vehicles can stay in a parking space “once they are roadworthy and have a valid circulation licence in addition to a relative insurance policy.”
The police said they will act differently in cases where the scooters used are in a derelict state or do not have a licence.
“In cases where the vehicle is derelict, which means an abandoned derelict vehicle, a motor vehicle which is or which appears to be unfit to be used on the road and, where its identification can be established, in respect of which the road licences for the current and previous year have not been paid, the police makes preliminary investigations on site to enquire about the owner of the vehicle.
“If this proves fruitless, a removal notice is duly affixed and a police report is filed at divisional level. After a grace period of eight days, an onsite follow up enquiry is carried out and if the offending vehicle is still there, the divisional police inform the Motor Transport section to tow the vehicle in question away.
“Such requests are processed on a system that prioritises such requests on a level of security threat, level of disruption to the national infrastructure and level of inconvenience to the general public. This is subject to the availability of space left at police compounds.”
The spokesperson said 54 vehicles without a valid road licence/insurance as well as derelict vehicles have been towed since January so far.
The police said they were aware of the selfish practice, adding that all "observations or information received are duly investigated and appropriate action follows, including the seizure/removal of such vehicle or motorbike.”
Unethical, unfair
An individual who runs a Facebook page about Malta’s parking habits explained further: “It might not be ethical to hog the same parking bay for ever and rotate it around between a scooter / motorbike and then the same person’s car, to sort of have one’s own exclusive public road parking bay. However, if one’s road tax and insurance are paid up on a vehicle, you can remain parked in the same parking bay virtually forever – without the need to move the car, since no law is being broken. However, the vehicle must always be in a good state of repair (no damaged body, tyres pumped up etc) and not excessively dirty either.”
“Ethically what these people are doing is unfair. Every citizen should have an equal fair chance to park in a public parking bay is my take on the matter.”