The Public Transport Authority (ADT) this evening filed an application in court calling for a case instituted earlier by the association representing hearses owners to be heard with urgency in view of public health concerns.

The association had requested the First Hall of the Civil Court to prohibit the ADT from issuing new permits for hearses or from processing new applications. In a related development, the association and other sectors of public transport said they would go out on strike in 48 hours' time unless new licences for owners of hearses were withdrawn.

In its court application the association said that this sector had operated for 50 years and had always been protected by the government. In 2006 the government had made the association's members invest in new hearses under the condition, however, that no new licences for other hearses would be issued. This decision had then been confirmed by the Cabinet. But the government had now decided, without consulting the association, to liberalise this sector.

This decision would cause the current owners irremediable damage from loss of work and revenue. The association claimed that the issue of the warrant of prohibitory injunction was necessary to protect its rights.

The court provisionally upheld the request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction and appointed a hearing for July 22.

But the ADT in its submissions this evening said the threat of industrial action by the hearses raised public safety concerns, while also creating inconvenience to the relatives of the deceased.

The authority also denied that the owners of hearses were made to invest in new hearses on condition that no new licences were issued. It also pointed out that those who did invest in new hearses enjoyed a 0% registration tax. New investors faced a 30% registration tax, the ADT said.

It therefore asked the courts to decide on the issue with urgency.