Emergency transport service stopped due to safety fears

Transport Minister Austin Gatt said he will resign were the government to backtrack from its decision to liberalise the hearse sector.

Dr Gatt was reacting to a comment by Transport Federation president Victor Spiteri who said he believed the government was close to back down from its decision to liberalise the hearse sector.

The strike by bus, mini-van, taxi and hearse operators enters its third day today with no resolution in sight as both sides stuck to their guns.

The emergency service announced by the government on Monday and which ran for a mere 90 minutes yesterday will not be offered today. The service had to be halted yesterday morning because of risks to passengers' and drivers' safety, after striking drivers surrounded the vehicles, damaging some and removing their ignition keys.

"If this attitude persists, it is going to be very difficult for the government to provide an emergency service," Dr Gatt told a press conference, although he did not exclude another attempt if the strike were to drag on.

Striking drivers blocked access to the Park and Ride in Blata l-Bajda, which was being used as the main bus terminus, and some physically blocked the emergency vehicles, intimidating drivers and passengers and even forcing them to get off.

In a letter sent to Mr Spiteri, who also heads the Public Transport Association, Dr Gatt urged bus drivers to provide an emergency service, saying it was immoral that the association did not provide the service when the strike started on Monday.

But when contacted later, Mr Spiteri accused Dr Gatt of being irresponsible to liberalise the hearse market, which triggered the nationwide strike that has paralysed the island for the past two days. He claimed that, in a meeting with the Motor Hearses Association, Dr Gatt offered it €60,000 to accept liberalisation.

While confirming that the authorities had offered the association cash to help it out, Dr Gatt denied the sum mentioned by Mr Spiteri, adding that this was done during a mediation attempt.

"If mediators are going to become characters in this drama they are not going to be effective mediators," he said, adding that mediation cannot happen openly if it is to be successful.

There were two attempts of mediation through two people yesterday, the minister confirmed, although he stopped short of giving more details or divulging the identity of the mediators.

The minister said letters sent to Mr Spiteri yesterday and on Monday - including one complaining about the presence of a number of men outside his home during the night - remained unanswered. He expressed surprise that buses were taking part in the strike because they had no pending issues with the authorities. In one of the letters, Dr Gatt formalised a verbal agreement which increases the monthly subsidy given to the buses' association by €81,550 to compensate for the increase in the price of diesel and the way forward for the bus service.

Mr Spiteri shrugged this off, saying that Dr Gatt has not even met formally with the association's committee. He felt that action by the authorities - including the halting of subsidies announced on Monday - could only make matters worse. Mr Spiteri strongly condemned yesterday's violence, quickly adding that strike-breakers were disliked by everybody.

Dr Gatt expressed his belief that a solution about funerals should be found today, adding that he could not understand how the hearse owners' association could not offer at least one hearse so that funerals are held.

Asked about the vehicles still blocking carriageways, Dr Gatt said it was difficult to decide what was legitimate in such a protest.

The minister expressed his satisfaction that police interventions at both the airport and Valletta Waterfront meant that tourists were provided with transport. He pointed out that problems on the roads had diminished yesterday, ferries were working normally and one of the carriageways in St Anne Street, Floriana was opened to traffic.