Owners of horse drawn cabs (karozzini) have filed an application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) to stop it from relocating, even temporarily, their stand in Palace Square, Valletta.

The 43 owners also called on the ADT to dump its plans to prohibit them from entering Valletta with their cabs or from operating in the city centre.

The owners claimed they were self-employed and this was their main bread winning activity.

They said that their stand in Palace Square had been there for several years with the approval of the competent authorities.

Most of their clients were tourists visiting the centre of Valletta. The ADT’s excuse , they said, was that the carriage wheels were damaging the paving and that the carriages were bothering passers. The authority, however, ignored their offer to change the wheels of their carriages to prevent further damage.

Nothwithstanding this, it still allowed electric cabs and park and ride vans to drive through roads where people would be walking.

The owners claimed that if the ADT went ahead with its plans, they would suffer serious financial damages and it was clear that with a substantial reduction in income it would not be possible for them to continue operating, causing irreparable damage to them and their families.