A total of 131 route buses have so far been replaced by new low floor vehicles, Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett said.

He told Charles Buhagiar (MLP) that the first five new buses, ordered in 1996 were delivered in 1997. Despite contract provisions, the board of the transport authority, appointed by the Labour government, had allowed an operator who replaced four buses to keep his old vehicles.

Since 1999, 12 old buses were not been handed to the transport authority after the new buses were acquired. In the case of 11 of them, the owners presented sworn statements saying the buses had either been destroyed or dumped in some field.

In another case the owner opted not to receive government assistance for the purchase of the new bus and kept the old one as a memento.

None of the old buses are being used on the routes, the minister said.