New Mġarr road signs vandalised and stolen within 24 hours of installation
Speed limit markings blacked out and traffic sign removed on primary school street
Updated 6.24pm
A new traffic sign and road markings installed on a street where a primary school is located were stolen and vandalised within a day as the mayor raised concerns about safety.
In a social media post, Mġarr Local Council “strongly condemned” the acts of vandalism in Triq Fisher and urged the public to come forward with any information about the incidents, "even anonymously".
The traffic signs had only just been installed by Infrastructure Malta on Wednesday. A mere 24 hours later a sign on Triq Fisher was gone and the road markings on the same street were deliberately blacked out.
Photos posted by the council showed what appeared to be black oil poured over the road markings indicating the speed limit set at 30km/h.
The local council has filed a report with the police regarding these incidents.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Mġarr mayor Paul Vella said he was mostly concerned about the safety of the school children as Mġarr primary school is located on that street, even though children use a gate on another road to enter the school.
The incident was also highlighted on the cycling community group Rota with one person remarking that the locality’s “attempt to implement slow streets as many are doing in Europe” was hit with “immediate backlash”.
Earlier this month Mġarr Local Council carried out the second phase of re-directing traffic within the town with a number of streets becoming one way.