A Gozo Channel ferry was last night instructed to turn back to Ċirkewwa after it left port with no passengers on board, leaving the Gozo Minister and some three other cars behind.
The MV Gaudos, which was operating a shuttle service, was supposed to drop off its passengers and head to Mġarr empty to dock for the night, leaving the MV Ta’ Pinu and the MV Malita to take over the night’s work, employees told Times of Malta.
However, just as it reached the fish farms near Comino a call came in ordering the boat to return to Ċirkewwa to pick up the minister, even though the two other ferries were shortly on their way.
Employees, who did not wish to be named, said a shuttle service normally operated according to the demands, and seeing that the flow of people had slowed down the Gaudos was ordered to leave Ċirkewwa empty at about 8.35pm and dock in Mġarr for the night.
“That’s how we normally operate,” they said, adding that by the time the ferry returned to Ċirkewwa it was 9.05pm.
The other two ferries were so close, they said, that after the Gaudos reached Mġarr at about 9.25pm, the Malita arrived just 15 minutes later and the Ta’ Pinu 10 minutes after that, which meant the passengers were not kept waiting for a long time.
Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, however, was livid that the Gaudos totally disregarded the four cars waiting to board at Ċirkewwa and headed to Mġarr completely empty.
Dr Refalo, who had just flown in from abroad, insisted he did not order the ferry back but merely called Gozo Channel officials to complain about the absurd situation.
“This is not about me. Everyone was complaining. It’s not right for the ferry to leave port empty, even if there’s just one car waiting – what if that one person was waiting to deliver medicine to his sick mother? Is this how we treat passengers?” he said when contacted last night.
What if that one person was waiting to deliver medicine to his sick mother?
He insisted that this was such “unacceptable behaviour” that this morning he was going demand an explanation and take disciplinary action against the person who issued the orders for the Gaudos to leave empty.
“I’m going to suspend the person. Why let a boat leave empty when there are people waiting, just for the crew to clock off 15 minutes earlier? It’s shameful,” he said, insisting the boat was just out of the harbour, and not near Comino, when it turned back.
He added that the Gaudos eventually left for Mġarr with some 23 cars on board.
In November 2011, former Gozo Channel chairman Joseph Grech was forced to resign his post after he ordered a ferry back to port to pick him up after he arrived late.