The association representing drivers of White Taxis has held Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia responsible for recent aggressive incidents and hostilities it said were experienced by drivers from the association, by taxi drivers from private companies locally, as well as bus drivers from the public transport sector.
Stating that "this situation is unacceptable", the association pinned direct blame on Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia for the incident which occurred on Tuesday evening where a 64-year-old driver of a white taxi was assaulted by an unknown Y-plate driver following a dispute which occurred between them at Ċirkewwa.
The Malta Taxi Licensed Association stated that the aggressor has not yet been found or identified three days later because of the Transport Ministry's lack of legal implementation of geolocation services into all working vehicles within the sector.
Moreover, they continued by doubting whether this incident would have even taken place if their proposal to have geofencing around all white taxis - which they noted is also favoured by all private cab operators - had been implemented. They said that this feature could have acted as a deterrent from this incident transpiring.
They reiterated how this proposal has not yet been legally implemented at the fault of the Ministry for Transport. Furthermore, they addressed that while police are working hard to solve this case, their tools to do so are extremely limited.
They then criticized how 90% of the cameras placed outside the Gozo Channel were not working and that are only there for appearance's sake.
They followed up this point by rhetorically asking why video enhancement technology used for investigative purposes only exists in low quality, why Transport Malta and/or Infrastructure Malta installed road cameras that are unable to read number plates during the night-time, and why the aggressor of the 64-year-old taxi driver earlier this week has not yet been found or identified in "such a small country".
"Is our country living in the technological world of 2023?", the Association CEO Malcolm Ciantar questioned near the end of this statement.
They stated that the lack of progress in the investigation of this assault "is a serious concern because it is a reflection of the lack of security within our country".
To conclude the statement, Ciantar, on behalf of his Association, took an opportunity to thank the Police Corps working to solve this case, as well as private cab services operators who have also assisted them on this issue. Furthermore, they appealed for anyone with information on this incident to kindly get in touch with the police at the earliest.