Labour Party supporters on the chartered Gozo Channel ferry on May 1. Photo: FacebookLabour Party supporters on the chartered Gozo Channel ferry on May 1. Photo: Facebook

Gozo Channel chairman Joe Cordina has defended the controversial use of a ferry to transport Labour Party supporters to the May 1 mass meeting in Valletta.

He said this practice had been carried out in the past for the party, even before he was appointed chairman years ago.

"You book it. You pay. And you can get it. Why not?" he told Times of Malta. "

He said the Nationalist Party was also free to book the Gozo ferry: "Whenever they like, we are open to negotiations to charter them the boat."

The vessel was chartered by the party at a cost of some €4,000 to operate directly to Valletta and to take the Gozitans home after the meeting.

Hundreds of commuters said they were stranded for hours in long queues after the long weekend, but Mr Cordina disputed the length of wait.

He also said that those who waited in Mġarr would have found less traffic once they crossed to Malta, since a few hundred party supporters were on the ferry.

 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.