Hearse operator drops case over licence delay

A hearse operator has withdrawn a case filed before the Fair Trade Commission earlier this year after the four motor hearse licences he was insisting on were issued by the Transport Authority (ADT) before the July transport strike.

But Karmenu Mifsud reserved the right to sue the authority for damages he suffered as a result of the delay in issuing the licences for four new hearses he bought between July 2006 and August 2007.

Mr Mifsud's battle for hearse licences started in 2002 when he filed his first case before the commission. At the time he was insisting on the right to import a hearse. He argued for the liberalisation of the sector and complained that the market for these hearses has been restricted to 10 vehicles which operate through the Motor Hearses Association to the exclusion of anyone trying to penetrate the market.

In 2004 the Fair Trade Commission decided in favour of Mr Mifsud and ordered that he be granted a licence to import a hearse to Malta.

Between 2006 and 2007 he purchased and imported four more hearses but the ADT refused to issue licences to allow him to use them on the road.

Consequently, earlier this year he filed another case before the commission.

In July this year the ADT issued the licences as government liberalised the hearse market - an action that led to the four-day nationwide transport strike.

Lawyer Michael Tanti-Dougall represented Mr Mifsud.