Traffic restrictions on the Formentor road to the lighthouse will be lifted after Sunday, so bringing an end to the three-month ban on most vehicles using the road between 10am and 7pm.
It has emerged that cameras for reading registration plates at the point near the beach where the restriction starts were not in place until the 23rd of August. These readers automatically send plate numbers to the traffic directorate so that fines can be issued. Prior to their coming into operation, there were so-called "informants", whose job is principally to inform drivers about restrictions and who don't have powers to raise fines.
It would also appear that at some point the Council of Majorca removed vehicle counters. These were intended to get an accurate picture of the number of vehicles using the road and to assist in decision-making regarding restrictions. So, there were neither the means for generating fines (for more than two months) nor for proper counting.
Pollensa's mayor Tomeu Cifre has criticised the lack of control and says that the restrictions have led to problems with parking for Formentor beach and for the beaches at Cala Figuera and Cala Murta. Drivers have been using the road before 10am in order to get to the latter two. People then stay for the day and park on the road. Cifre wants the Council of Majorca, the government and the traffic directorate to sort out proper parking areas.
A second car park for Formentor beach, which was denounced by the environmentalists GOB in July because it was "irregular", has apparently been visited by environment ministry agents on three occasions. On no occasion, it would seem, did the agents catch anyone actually operating this car park.