Legal action against those responsible for the current gas dispute will be sought by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association unless a solution was found to the problem, the association said.

In a statement, it said it was unacceptable that a dispute was allowed to put at risk businesses which in no way contributed to the problem.

A strike directive issued by the GRTU to gas distributors has remained in place, with no breakthrough in talks on whether the distributors may sell the products of Liquigas and new company EasyGas, which started importing its gas cylinders yesterday.

The distributors are refusing to sell gas cylinders door to door or from fixed plants, including the plant at Qajjenza.

No decision had been issued yet by the Office of Fair Competition.

The GRTU is insisting with the Office that the distributors are licenced retailers who paid for their licence and it would be unlawful and monopolistic if their were restricted to selling just one company's product.

Liquigas is arguing that distributors selling its product should not sell products of other companies.

The MHRA said it had been hoping that the matter to be resolved by this morning, but the issue remained pending and a number of restaurants and guest houses, might risk running out of gas supply in a matter of days.

The implications of this, it said, were obvious to all.

It said that if necessary, the government should make arrangements to allow for gas cylinders to be purchased from the plant.

“But we cannot allow a situation where we put businesses at risk and consumers and households are unnecessarily inconvenienced, whilst gas distributors discuss a €6 million demand in the form of compensation from government.”

MHRA urged all parties concerned to find a solution to the problem without further delay, “as we cannot risk restaurants or other operators in the industry having to resort closing their establishments during this peak festive period, which is crucially important for businesses and patrons alike”.

It said that if this had to happen, innocent parties would be adversely affected and penalised, as customers that booked their venue or meals in advance would have to cancel their plans, while restaurants and guest house owners would be constrained to forfeit important revenues and be subject to pay employees and entertainers unnecessarily.

The MHRA hoped that common sense would prevail during this festive period.

It said that if the dispute persisted, it would seek legal action against those responsible, to recoup losses suffered by its members.