Malta’s biggest fleet of Y-Plate cabs has been permitted to return to the country’s roads while a court decides if its licence was fairly suspended. 

WT Global was granted a provisional injunction by a magistrate on Tuesday morning, allowing it to resume operations while its broader legal battle against Transport Malta is decided.

The company, owned by Libyan entrepreneur Walid Ouhida, was among a raft of companies that had its licence suspended by the transport regulator last month.

Transport Malta moved against the companies after discovering that they did not have properly licenced garages for all their vehicles. In some cases, inspectors found that addresses listed as public service garages were actually empty fields.

WT Global maintains it has broken no rules and said its licence was “abruptly revoked without prior notice” and “without any explanation”.

The company subsequently began court proceedings to have that decision revoked. On Tuesday morning, Magistrate Charmaine Galea ruled that the company should be allowed to operate while the court decides on the merits of WT Global’s case.

The case has been scheduled to proceed on February 11.

Fleet operators like WT Global provide drivers and vehicles for ride-hailing platforms like Bolt, Uber and eCabs. The sector expanded significantly in the past years but Transport Malta last year began to more actively enforce sectoral regulations and clamp down on abusers. 

Around 1,400 Y-Plate vehicles - roughly 30% of the country's stock - were taken off the roads in the past weeks following enforcement action.         

WT Global's provisional court victory is likely to spur other fleet companies impacted by the Transport Malta enforcement to file similar court cases to freeze the suspension decisions. 

Transport Minister Chris Bonett told Times of Malta that he disagreed with the court decision but that enforcement efforts would continue nevertheless. 

"Those who repeatedly abuse the law should not be allowed to continue operating until their appeal is decided," he said. 

"I am determined to reform the Y-plate sector. Those who work hard will be rewarded while we will come down hard on those that do not respect the rules or their workers," Bonett said.