Twenty-two Gozitan hawkers who set up stalls in Savina Square, Victoria, are to have a larger space within which to operate, with traffic restrictions across the square on market days.

The decision was taken by the Trading Licensing Appeals Board in the final twist in a long judicial process embarked upon by a number of ‘fixed hawkers,’ following the relocation of the market from it-Tokk to Savina Square.

The market vendors took their grievances before the Licensing Appeals Board, claiming that they were prejudiced by the move which had been effected without consultation.

The hawkers argued that the allocation of the new spaces on Savina Square was not practical since the size of individual spaces did not match the former ones at it-Tokk. Moreover, the lack of adequate passageways between the stalls, negatively impacted trade.

The allocation plan had not considered the traffic flowing through Savina Square during market hours and there were no clearly demarcated spaces for the vendors to park their vehicles.

The allocation was done in an arbitrary and illogical manner, “possibly to favour certain hawkers,” other than the appellants, the appellants claimed.

The situation was made worse during the summer when street decorations and fireworks were set up around the square, encroaching further upon the limited market space, the appellants complained.

Those grievances were rejected by the board in December 2018. The board had only directed the Victoria Local Council to vary the positioning of one of the spaces.

That decision had prompted an appeal to the Court of Appeal which, by means of a judgment delivered in May 2019 by Mr Justice Anthony Ellul, partly upheld the appellants’ claims, rejecting the board’s conclusion that it lacked the competence to review a decision taken by the Local Council and Transport Malta.

The court observed that in this case, the hawkers were not contesting the decision to relocate the market to Savina Square, but the allocation of the individual spaces.

The matter landed back before the Licensing Appeals Board which, after analyzing the layout of the market spaces, even conducting an on-site inspection, concluded that “it was evident that owing to the lack of space, traffic flowed very close to some of the stalls.”

In the light of such observations, the Board limitedly upheld the hawkers’ grievances, ordering that on market days, the zone allocated to the vendors was to be extended to the other side of the square, close to the petrol station.

Moreover, save for vehicles passing through Adrian Dingli Street and allowing access to the petrol station, on market days no traffic was to be allowed to cross the square from Mons. Luigi Vella Street in the direction of Adrian Dingli Street.

Lawyer Joseph Ellis assisted the appellants.