I should begin by saying that as a family we have visited France, Italy including Sicily, Portugal, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Spain including Menorca and Majorca, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, all parts of the UK and most recently Malta.

We have always hired a car on holidays as we have a son who has a disability.

I regret to say than the condition of the roads are by far the worst we have experienced.

I recently read while in your country that Malta’s credit rating is AA- and consequently I am very surprised that the people of Malta are putting up with such poor infrastructure without calling the responsible Parliamentary Minister to answer.

I did wonder why the Car Hire Co. made a special reference to an exclusion of “damage to the undercarriage, tyres and wheel rims” as this was the first time such notice was brought to my attention in all my years driving abroad.

I now know why this special exclusion exists and as a retired Insurance Broker concur with the wisdom of this.

I did notice that the number of old cars in Malta far exceeds the norm in other countries. I can now understand why this is so.

If I were a resident of Malta I certainly would not buy a new car to subject it to your road conditions.

If and when the authorities get your roads up to standard they should consider a vehicle scrappage scheme.

In addition I am sorry to comment that your road signage is totally inadequate. On several roundabouts there are no direction signs and on occasions the first indication of a direction sign is immediately at the turn without any prior warnings.

From my 41 years in Insurance I was also very surprised at the condition of your foothpaths which would be described as hazardous and the appropriate authority should be aware of the potential liabilities arising for nonfeasance or misfeasance.

Can I also take this opportunity to plead to your planning authorities to call a halt to granting planning for the new high-rise buildings. There are a huge number of older buildings which should be preserved between Pembroke and Valetta which are currently being allowed to go into disrepair and ruin—-all at the same time as new ugly buildings are going up everywhere.

We in Ireland made similar mistakes in granting planning for far too many new developments which as it turned out caused the financial crisis in our country. Please make developers/contractors complete projects before granting new permissions.

Please accept all the above as constructive criticism.

Having been so negative I must now say that we found the people of Malta to be the friendliest we have experienced anywhere.

The Hotel we stayed in was excellent and both the service/ food standards great.

Please, please friendly people of Malta insist on your authorities improving your infrastructures and if not done replace them at election.

■ Barry Hall

Ireland