I have just returned from a wonderful four-week holiday in Malta and it would have been one of the best, except for one major incident which unfortunately effected hundreds of other people as we all tried to get to our destinations.

We joined a very long convoy of cars heading for Valletta after a great day out at Ghadira Bay. The chaos started as we eventually reached the big roundabout on the Regional Road, where we saw that the main road was closed and two policemen (one with his back to us watching the fireworks and the other leaning on the railings in the middle of the road) standing there.

We continued to follow the flow of traffic down some very narrow streets, wide enough for just one car, but to everyone's amazement cars were still coming up from the opposite direction. As we reached the T-junction at the bottom of the hill we had a choice of turning left or right into (Msida Valley Road), but none of us in our car could see any diversion signs or indeed a policeman directing traffic.

We decided to take a right turn towards Birkirkara. Unfortunately friends and relations in two other cars took a left turn, as did many other cars, and ended up in the middle of the festa, where they were re-directed by the police to the Regional Road to rejoin the traffic jam they had just left.

I would assume that before any such event a meeting takes place involving the local council, police and transport authorities and a plan is drawn up to assure minimum disruption to road users and the general public is given prior notice of any road closures.

I have to say that we were returning home from Ghadira on a different day and we went through another festa (I am told it was Our Lady of Sorrows) and the local traffic was much better managed with hardly any congestion.