'I felt pushed into the opposite lane': couriers working in Storm Harry

Food delivery couriers described perilous conditions on Malta’s roads on Monday evening as Storm Harry began battering the island.

“It was so risky yesterday evening. I’d be riding on one lane, and I would feel the wind pushing me to the opposite side,” 25-year-old Akram told Times of Malta. 

Akram asked Times of Malta not to include his surname, as did other couriers who shared their experiences.

“I was feeling that I would crash into another car at any point... No one should be driving a motorbike right now,” he said, adding he would be staying at home on Tuesday.

Kumar, who has been in the job for three years, said: "There was much risk in Malta yesterday. The weather was very windy. Anything could have fallen on me — a tree or something — and I could feel I didn’t have as much control on the motorbike”.

“The worst was in Birżebbuġa, near the seaside — the waves were crashing onto the road and the sea was coming onto the street. I felt like I could slip,” he said.

He described feeling demotivated by people’s social media comments on days like yesterday.

“We are struggling in the wind to deliver food, and you see comments complaining about us, making fun of us, or telling us to go back to our country.”

Fleets: 'stay home'

Several fleets that employ food delivery drivers also told their workers to stay indoors on Tuesday.

“The country can survive one day without having a pizza delivered to their door,” said fleet owner Mattias Narusevicius, whose fleet, WFDM, has over 165 couriers.

Similarly, Rajat Dhingra, who manages the SKM fleet of some 75 couriers, said he had asked workers to stay at home.

The Malta Delivery Fleet Operators Association has also asked its members to remain offline, association president Yousef Meli said.

Collectively, the association’s 11 members employ some 1,000 couriers.

Apps remain online

Despite many couriers going offline, Malta’s two main food delivery apps, Bolt and Wolt, remained available.

Replying to questions, Bolt said the company “has implemented a number of precautionary measures to help support delivery partners’ safety while maintaining services”.

They said drivers are only allowed to drive up to one kilometre to reduce exposure to hazardous weather. 

“To further discourage unnecessary demand during extreme weather, we also reduce the number of stores and restaurants available to users on the platform,” they said.

“As always, delivery partners retain full flexibility to decide if, when, and how they work. They are independent partners and are free to log off the platform at any time if they feel conditions are unsafe,” the spokesperson said.

Questions were sent to Wolt.

Storm Harry began battering Malta on Monday, bringing with it gale-force winds, damage and service disruptions.

With windspeeds reaching around 103 kilometres per hour early Tuesday morning, the storm has torn down trees, wrecked business facades, and diverted inbound flights.

In response, authorities have asked people to stay indoors where possible, encouraged employers to allow workers to work from home, and excused all children who do not turn up for school.