The popular and provocative London mayor Boris Johnson has made a career-enhancing issue out of his dislike of the bendy bus and his decision, within weeks of becoming mayor, to have them replaced by the loved, iconic Route-master double-decker bus.

He received a standing ovation at the 2011 Conservative Party conference for his description of bendy buses as “beached whales,” which he jokingly remarked now “clogged up Malta’s streets”.

Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear’s outspoken presenter, wanted the last bendy bus out of London to be ceremonially blown up to mark their riddance from the London roads. Now, it seems, his wish is almost literally coming true in Malta.

In the past 36 hours, three buses have caught fire and another had to halt after smoke was seen billowing from its engine. The three earlier incidents were serious. The first happened on Sunday morning near the Marsa depot when one bendy bus was completely destroyed by fire, causing collateral damage to at least nine Maltapost vans parked nearby.

The second incident happened on Sunday night when the back of another bendy bus caught fire on a hill in Mellieħa, requiring the evacuation of 12 luckless passengers. The third fire occurred yesterday when another bendy bus caught fire at Xemxija. Luckily, no injuries occurred in any of these fires.

In all, there have been eight such incidents on bendy buses so far this year, raising grave concerns about their safety on our roads. In 2004, the entire fleet of 120 bendy buses in London had to be fitted with fire suppression equipment and flame retardant interiors following a number of similar incidents. It is not known whether the buses in Malta have been similarly fitted with anti-fire precautions.

These latest spectacular and dangerous incidents involving Arriva’s bendy buses only serve to underline the concerns about their use in Malta which were expressed at the time of their arrival.

It did not need the wit or sarcasm of Mr Johnson to alert Maltese to their obvious limitations. For a start, the buses are obviously far too large and cumbersome for Malta’s narrow and grimly over-crowded roads. Virtually anywhere one comes across a bendy bus on a Maltese road there is the beginning of a traffic jam.

While being bulk passenger carriers, they are also a major clog on the roads. Time and again we have seen these 18-metre vehicles careen dangerously into other lanes, posing a danger to other vehicles, and of course cyclists.

This on its own should be sufficient to have them banned from our roads.

Worse, it now transpires that they are liable to catch fire and may not be mechanically safe. Both commuter and bendy buses’ driver confidence have been shaken by these incidents.

The transport watchdog has rightly instigated an investigation and the Transport Minister yesterday correctly instructed Arriva to take the buses off the road pending investigations by an independent surveyor, a day after saying he was not responsible for such matters.

The paramount issue to be addressed is not so much the technical causes of the fire, important though that is, but whether people travelling in bendy buses on Maltese roads will be safe to do so.

Buses which are liable to ignite spontaneously, capable of carrying up to 140 people, should not be in service. Unless cast-iron assurances about their safety and suitability can be given, bendy buses should be permanently removed from our roads and replaced by smaller buses that are better suited to Malta.

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