Fines all round for 101 bus drivers
A hundred and one bus drivers were yesterday fined €70 each after collectively admitting to operating a tourist service for which they were not licensed.
Victor Spiteri, president of the Transport Association, appeared in court on their behalf to register their guilty pleas, even though he protested against the charges and said the matter would be taken to the European courts.
The cases revolves around a service the bus owners offered to tourists last summer without having a special licence for such an unscheduled service.
According to Mr Spiteri, the bus drivers increased the number of routes during summer because of the large influx of English school students waiting on the bus stops.
He said he would be taking this case to the European courts after pointing out that it was senseless how the Public Transport Authority (ADT) had taken action against the drivers for increasing the service because of the demand.
"After all it is in the interest of the government that we offer a better service to tourists".
He added that the association had sent the extra buses to the areas where the concentration of students was greatest, trying to keep up with the demand.
A further 160 bus drivers will appear in court to face the same charges in the coming days.
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Albert Spiteri
Nov 22nd 2008, 10:38
If there is anything in Malta that enjoys mass-consensus of opinion, it certainly is the hellish bus service which daily castigates all those who use it.
I cannot think of any other public service that brings its operators so close to so many all the time of the day everyday of the year, anywhere in Malta and Gozo. I can hardly think of any other type of people operating a public service as unfit as our bus drivers. They bully, they cheat, they swear at old and young, woman or child with no reserve. They beat up whomever they like, whenever and wherever they feel so inclined. They constitute our worst national disgrace.
Present bus drivers should never ever and ever be allowed within an astronomical mile of any kind of public service employment. They are totally and completely untrainable.
So let us save the wheat from the useless chaff, and raze it all to the ground, so we can save the field for a future sow, reap and harvest.
Joe Tabone-Adami
Nov 21st 2008, 16:05
It would be enlightening to know where, when, and at what frequency, were the alleged 'additional trips' carried out by the 'culprits'. All I could observe at most hours around the Sliema and Gzira areas last summer were crowds of English-language students and other foreigners waiting on bus-stops for long periods, even in the sizzling sun - and not a bus in sight!
Ingrid Jones-cameron
Nov 21st 2008, 14:11
my son was fined 266 euros for lighting a cig in paceville and a driver breaking the law is fined 70 euros!!!!