From 24 June to 1 July, me and my friend spent our holidays in Malta. For our travels we used the buses. Through this letter, I wish to complain about the aggression I suffered from an extremely violent bus driver. We wished to file a formal complaint at the law courts, but we could not because we were leaving Malta one day later.
It happened on 29 June at 12.47pm in a bus destined to Marsaxlokk (route number 27). For obvious reasons we do not know the name of this individual, however the guy can be identified from the tattoo he was sporting on his nape. The tattoo figured the number “666” (it is significant, isn’t it?). I am sure this man is well-known.
When we were in the bus, we asked for two tickets to Marsaxlokk and we gave him a one euro coin (not a 50, 20, 10 or 5 euro note). The cost of the fare, and we knew about it, is €0.47 for one ticket. So, two tickets should have amounted to €0.94. Similar to what happened to us with other bus drivers, he did not give us the change (€0.06). We had to ask him for our change (our money), but in this case he refused and began to shout, ordering us to sit down. (He had a bowl full of one cent and two cent coins). A vein in his neck was about to bulge out. He insulted us. He became so violent that he came towards me and pulled my arms forcefully trying to throw me out of the bus. He snatched our tickets away from my hands, tore them to pieces and threw the one euro coin to my face. We kept silent, waiting for this mad bus driver to calm down.
Some people at a bus station saw this ordeal and had to ask him to calm down, while we were stupefied. We were very afraid and I had to call 112 from my mobile phone. They gave me the number of the police office in Valetta. But we did not want neither to descend from the bus nor change our plans, so we stayed in the bus. A policeman from the police office in the bus station came and went into the bus. He returned our tickets and convinced the bus driver to carry on with his job.
In the afternoon, when we were back to Valetta (29 June – same day), we went directly to the police office in the bus station. We told the police about what had happened to us and he noted down my details (name, surname, address, passport number and phone number) and asked me for the tickets. I am sure this piece of paper with my data was thrown directly in the garbage bin. He told us that he was trying to do “something”. At the end he said: “You are tourists” (and perhaps in Malta this means you are authorised to be robbed).
Yes, we are tourists, but not stupid.
Yes, we are tourists, but not guilty.
Yes, we are tourists, but not thieves.
Yes, we are tourists, but do not have bad manners.
Yes, we are tourists, but do not offend anybody.
Yes, we are tourist, but we contribute to Malta’s economy.
Yes, we were tourists in Malta, but we will never go back.
The violent behaviour of that bus driver was indignant and such persons should not be working in a public service. This should not happen neither in Malta nor in any other country.
I am not recommending travel to Malta because of this issue and we are going to do everything we can to circulate our experience. In fact a copy of this mail will be sent to the most popular newspapers in Spain as well as some Maltese ones.
We went to Malta for a vacation and we received insults, aggressiveness, bad manners and injuries. We do not deserve this kind of treatment. Our only offence was paying our tickets and waiting for our change as everybody does all over the world. It is very surprising that this was the unique profession (bus drivers) we had problems with. In the case of bus drivers, it may be a tradition… a very bad tradition of robbery and we could realise that bus drivers in Malta constitute a kind of ‘mafia’.
I wish this man to be punished for his behaviour and that such things never, never, occur again. I would really like to know the reaction of persons who have been subjected to similar situations.
Malta’s image in Europe is being damaged a lot because of such behaviour.
Isabel Reymundo Cuesta
Madrid, Spain