A fire which destroyed a route bus in January was caused by a wire that was trapped between a differential, brake drum and rim on a rear double wheel, Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said.

The sudden blaze destroyed the bus in Burmarrad on January 20.  No one was on board other than the driver.

Mr Mizzi said a magisterial inquiry had been concluded that this was an accidental fire caused when a wire from one of the tyres got trapped between a differential, the rim and the brake drum on the left of the vehicle. 

The question was asked by Nationalist MP Toni Bezzina.

In March, Mr Mizzi said in reply to another question that the driver found the on-board fire extinguisher empty.

MAINTENANCE WORK COSTS DOWN

The minister said in reply to another question that between January and July this year, Malta Public Transport spent €2,857,904.00 on bus maintenance, compared to €3,125,000.00 between January and May 2013 under Arriva. Figures for June were not available.

The figures showed that costs had been drastically reduced even though maintenance was being done every six weeks instead of every 12 weeks, the minister said.

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