There were chaotic scenes at the Gozo Highspeed terminal in Valletta on Friday afternoon after scores of passengers were denied boarding because the ferry was full.

Among those denied boarding the 1.45 pm fast ferry crossing from Valletta to Mġarr were passengers with a reservation for that crossing time, leading to heated complaints.

Their frustration was compounded by the response of terminal staff, who according to one passenger simply shouted at agitated crowds that there would be another ferry in an hour. 

Passengers also claimed the ferry’s premier ‘club class’ lounge was empty during the crossing.

Meanwhile, the ferry’s operating company Virtu Ferries has blamed a “booking system error” for passengers with reservations being refused entry and has denied the club lounge was empty.

One Gozo resident who was turned away said he had arrived ten minutes before the crossing only to be told it was full up.

“Staff were just yelling at people to get back – they just told us there was another ferry in an hour,” he said, adding there had been “heated complaints” from passengers with a timed reservation.

“They could have put people in the club lounge,” he said, describing it as “virtually empty.” The passenger said around 100 people had been denied boarding the ferry. 

When contacted, a spokesperson for the fast ferry’s operating company Virtu Ferries stressed passengers with reservations being denied entry was “definitely not the rule” and blamed the situation on a “booking system failure.”

Refuting claims the club lounge was empty for the crossing while passengers were denied boarding, the spokesperson said it “definitely was not the case”.

He added the company had had a “busy morning” and that from Wednesday the fast ferry would be running according to its summer schedule, which features hourly crossings from Valletta and Mġarr.

The fast ferry was introduced in 2021, with the two companies who initially ran the service - Gozo Fast Ferry and Virtu Ferries Gozo – merging last year to offer a unified service.

According to the National Statistics Office, in the first quarter of this year, 156,000 passengers crossed between Mġarr and Valletta using the service.