A meeting between McGill’s bus company of Scotland and local bus owners and drivers took place this morning at Luxol Sports Club, managing director Ralph Roberts confirmed.

The meeting was held “in order to gauge the interest of local operators in being involved with McGill's in some capacity in their potential bid for running the buses in Malta,” Mr Roberts said.

The Scottish bus company has confirmed its interest in operating the Maltese bus network. It is temporarily being run by Malta Public Transport Services after Arriva agreed to terminate its 10-year contract following two-and-a-half years of service problems and financial losses.

A call for expressions of interest in operating the service was published earlier this week. The closing date for submissions is April 4.

“McGill's believes that the success of any bus service involves local knowledge and local involvement and that was the purpose of the meeting,” said Mr Roberts, who worked for Arriva in the UK for 10 years.