Archbishop Paul Cremona was a guest of honour at last Wednesday’s celebrity concert at The Palace, Valletta.

But despite the fact that he arrived in his official car and was even welcomed by an MIA official, he was blocked at the palace door by a Malta Tickets usherette who insisted on seeing his ticket. Msgr Cremona meekly put his hand in his pocket and produced his complimentary ticket.

People present were heard commenting that Malta Tickets employees were obviously not trained in courtesy and hospitality ethics, didn’t have a clue regarding protocol and do not even know the VIPs or members of the diplomatic corps.

Besides, people had to enter from the soldier’s postern gate (the small door cut into the big palace door, used only at night) as Malta Tickets staff claimed there were not enough seats, which proved unfounded because everybody was seated in the end.

Fortunately and thanks to the people from the Malta Arts Festival, who maintained they could not interfere with Malta Tickets at that stage, they insisted that the show must start on time and there was only a five-minute delay.

This unfortunate situation is also due to the fact that seats are not numbered and people queue at least an hour before doors open 45-30 minutes prior to the performance

Malta Tickets staff choose very narrow entrances as they can control access, making sure only one person at a time enters and they can screen tickets one by one; claims that they have 30 per cent commission even on complimentary tickets could not be substantiated.

At the Shakespeare performance on 27 July, Malta Tickets staff at the door held up queues at a very narrow access because of their electronic hand-held gadgets, either because they did not know how to use them or the machines were not working efficiently. The performance started at least 15 minutes late.