Foundations inspection

The block of flats where I live is going to have two more floors added. My first thought was if the foundations can take the extra weight. I was having a conversation with a builder who told me that there is now a law that, before any additional building can take place, an investigation should be carried out to see if the foundations can take the extra weight by core-drilling into them.

I have tried to search for this information and to confirm it but I’m not getting anywhere.

Would anybody be able to confirm if it is the case and, if so, how to go about making sure the investigations are carried out according to regulations?

Joseph Borg – Qawra

Gas leaks and bendy buses

The multiple, recent gas leaks in the Nord Stream Pipeline cannot be judged to be coincidences. These incidences remind me of the multiple fires on the bendy buses in 2013.

Joe Portelli – Nadur

Use of vehicle indicators

One of the most things that irritate us while driving is that the driver in front of us turns a corner without switching on his indicators for at least five blinks before turning.

I urge the authorities at Transport Malta to order traffic wardens to stay close to corners and teach careless drivers who do not use their indicators a lesson they’ll never forget. Negligent drivers must be made to make it a habit of switching on their indicators and the only way those culprits might do so is through a hefty fine.

Alfred Gauci – Sliema

Bank services

Allow me to compliment HSBC for their efficient service provided at their branch in Swieqi.

However, the same cannot be said about their security officer, who, on trying to ask if there was a particular desk I had to go to for a particular service, replied that she cannot give me any information, which surprised me and other customers waiting to be served.

I also enquired if one could use a toilet facility and the reply was definitely not. There are no toilet facilities for clients at their branches.

Obviously, senior citizens and diabetics do not come under the ‘demographic pattern’ of what their clients should be. One could understand that COVID could have led to the use of such facilities being withdrawn. However, things have improved now.

Shame for making life difficult for customers. We all appreciate that, with the closure of so many of their branches, one has to travel quite a distance to obtain any form of service.

Charles Micallef – Qawra