Bus owners plan legal action over deducted subsidies after July strike

Bus owners are preparing to take the government to court amid disagreement over the amount of subsidies to be deducted after the four-day strike last July.

The government has been given until Tuesday to pay the subsidy, although Public Transport Association president Victor Spiteri would not say whether bus owners would again strike if the money is not forthcoming by the set deadline.

On Monday, the Transport Ministry said bus owners were threatening to strike again following a subsidy-related disagreement.

While the association had agreed to have €44,000 in subsidies deducted because of the strike, the government stopped payment of about €240,000, Mr Spiteri said, adding that although bus owners were not expecting to be paid subsidies for the days when they did not work, they could not accept to have such a large amount withheld.

The Transport Ministry said the government guaranteed a daily €62,200 income to the association, which represents the 430-odd bus owners. The authorities subsidise the difference between the money earned through ticket sales and the guaranteed income.

This has also been confirmed by Mr Spiteri, who said that patronage levels make it impossible for bus owners to reach the guaranteed amount.

The association is arguing that since the government gives it a daily average of €11,000 in subsidies - which does not include the amount of money earned through ticket sales - only that amount should be deducted.

However, the authorities believe that cutting just €11,000 would still be tantamount to subsidising bus owners for the days when they chose to strike because it would be paying them for money lost through loss of ticket sales.

The ministry said that, while bus owners had the right to strike, it was them who had to pay for this and not taxpayers. Mr Spiteri said that during negotiations with the authorities after July's strike, the two sides had disagreed on the amount of subsidies to be withheld and so decided to resort to arbitration.

"We cannot accept the fact that the authorities decided to deduct €240,000 in subsidies last October without first going to arbitration," the association said. But asked whether they had made the official request to go for arbitration, Mr Spiteri admitted they had not.

Asked whether the authorities had made the request, a ministry spokesman said it was up to the association to do so because it was the one contesting the deduction.

The association is also irked because it says the government still owes it €1.5 million in subsidies for last year and had only sent auditors to look through its accounts this week.

The ministry said it would make the payment after the verification process was concluded.