Strike stopped 24 hours after hearse owners pull out

Roads will return to normal this morning after the nationwide public transport strike ended yesterday as the Transport Federation informed the government it was willing to discuss.

Four days into the strike, the breakthrough came 24-hours after the Motor Hearse Association reached an agreement with the government, pulling out of the action and withdrawing from the strike-leading federation.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced the end of the four-day strike yesterday evening, saying he had received an e-mail from federation president Victor Spiteri, who called off the strike and said the bus service would start again today at 5.30 a.m.

Although the strike persevered yesterday, motorists glided through roads, which in the previous three days had been clogged with empty buses, mini-vans and taxis.

The police kept a watchful eye on the striking drivers, stopping them from taking to the roads en masse and keeping them confined to different areas. Buses were kept under watch at the Valletta terminus, mini-buses in Qormi and taxis at the airport, amidst claims that the government would seize vehicles and provide public transport through the Armed Forces.

In Qormi, mini-buses were only allowed to leave the area they were confined to, 10 at a time, with Mr Spiteri describing the situation as drivers being kept "hostages by the police". Drivers were free to leave as they pleased so long as they did not take their vehicles with them.

Five mini-bus drivers were yesterday arraigned over incidents in the past days and two judicial protests against the striking transport operators were filed by building contractors and a number of tourism-related organisations.

The police were also busy preparing the necessary paperwork to issue 100-odd fines for traffic offences committed over the past few days, sources said.

Although the emergency transport service , stopped on Tuesday after just 90 minutes, did not run because of safety fears, the ferry service linking Valletta to Sliema resumed after having been suspended on Wednesday when the captain and crew were threatened.

Tourists arriving at the airport were directed to a makeshift transport station from where arrangements were made to take them to their destination, with the situation described as "calm but far from normal". Unscheduled buses, with two policemen on board, were also taking tourists to excursions.