No Malta Public Transport bus drivers are involved in an alleged racket concerning candidates being helped to obtain driving licences, the company said on Friday.
The case, which is currently before the local courts, concerns allegations that top Transport Malta officials pressured examiners to favour particular candidates sitting for tests.
Witnesses have claimed that officials implied that unnamed government ministers wanted specific candidates to be approved.
In a hearing on September 27, driving examiner Roderick Cavallo claimed he was warned he would have to "answer to the minister" if he failed a candidate for a bus driving licence.
He described in court how he was told particular candidates should be allowed to pass their tests unless their vehicles "return splattered with blood".
The testimony prompted questions about drivers employed by MPT, which provides the national bus service, being among those favoured.
But in a statement on Friday, MPT said that to its knowledge, “no bus driver employed by the company is involved or has been involved in this alleged case as there has been no contact by the police or any authority with the company in relation to this alleged case”.
It said it holds the role of its drivers to very high standards of professionalism and safety.
“All drivers follow a compulsory training programme upon recruitment, even if they already have a driving licence to drive buses. Furthermore, with safety as the company’s top priority, no bus drivers employed by Malta Public Transport are sent for a driving licence test unless the driving instructor is convinced that they have attained the required skills and competences to present themselves for that test.”
MPT said that it employed 10 driving instructors and that each driver undergoes an eight-week training programme before transitioning into the service and driving buses with passengers.
Training is compulsory to all bus drivers recruited by the company, irrespective of experience level, and whether the driver is Maltese, from the EU or a third-country national.
New recruits first undergo an ability test and then spend one week learning within a classroom. They then undergo six weeks of "actual hands-on driving on Maltese roads with the driving instructors, and another week of training for specific route learning," MPT said.
Drivers are also trained on a bus simulator - "the only one in Malta," MPT said - in which they are trained for specific situations which cannot be effectively taught on the road for safety reasons but are simulated in a safe environment.
Once drivers have completed MPT's training programme, they undergo Transport Malta driving tests, to obtain their full licences.
Once the drivers are deployed into service, they are further assigned a “buddy driver” for three days for further guidance and supervision, after which they are considered ready to provide the service on their own.
In addition, every driver in the current Malta Public Transport team undergoes an ability test once a year which is carried out by qualified instructors and, if necessary, retraining is affected.
Malta Public Transport driving instructors also carry out regular direct observations. This means that instructors physically board a route bus and assess drivers while on the road. Retraining is provided if the driver does not pass this observation test, it said.