Transport Malta has struck a temporary deal with one of Malta’s largest Y-plate fleets, allowing Agius Trading’s 200 cabs to stay on the road despite the company not being in line with public service garage (PSG) rules.
Transport Malta has agreed to allow the company to continue operating on platforms like Bolt, Uber and eCabs, despite Agius Trading not having a PSG to accommodate all its cars.
The deal will oblige Agius Trading to have a PSG ready by next year. Agius Trading said it will have the PSG ready by March 2026.
The agreement, concluded in principle, will be officially finalised once the company presents a plan that shows it will keep to the approved deadlines.
Transport Malta sources said the entity allowed for Agius Trading to continue working because of delays in acquiring the Planning Authority permit needed to begin works on the garage.
Agius Trading is owned by Gozitan developer Mark Agius, known as Ta’ Dirjanu. He is considered to be a close associate of construction mogul Joseph Portelli.
Malta’s transport authority issued a notice of suspension late last month over Agius Trading’s failure to comply with PSG regulations. Transport Malta discovered that the company’s registered site was a disused industrial space.
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Agius Trading had 10 days to appeal the decision or regularise its operations by offering an alternative site.
The site registered as a public service garage was actually a mostly disused industrial space.Regulations say cab fleets with more than five cars must have a registered public service garage to store vehicles.
In the deal, Agius Trading has until next year to build a PSG for all its cars or risk losing its operator’s licence.
Under the agreement, some of the cars will park in the site where the garage will eventually be built. Times of Malta understands that the site is big enough to accommodate the cars while there is ongoing construction.
Other cars will stay in a built facility that is already a public service garage.
Transport Malta sources said that court decisions that allowed mega-fleet WT Global and others back on the road following a suspension meant they took a different approach this time around.
“Last time we suspended a fleet, they were back on the road within just a few days, so if we did the same as we had done back then, the same would have happened.”
WT Global and other fleets had successfully acquired an injunction to stop their suspension weeks after Transport Malta ordered the Y-plated cars off the road.
Those fleets will be able to remain on the road while waiting for the court’s ruling on the suspension.
Sources also pointed to Planning Authority delays when asked why Agius Trading was allowed to continue operations.
The Mark Agius-owned company had applied for PA permits in late January 2024 but received approval to begin works last March.
Others said that removing some 200 cars off the road over the PSG issue would have severely affected Malta’s ride-hailing ecosystem, which is currently in its busiest season.
In July, a Transport Malta investigation showed that the listed garage for Agius Trading’s fleet in Marsa did not exist and was actually a disused industrial space.
They issued a notice of suspension following the inquiry. Agius Trading appealed the Transport Malta decision.
Questions have been sent to Transport Malta and Agius Trading.
Agius Trading said: “As previously stated, works will soon begin on a public service garage that will be finalised by March 2026. A permit has already been approved for this public service garage to be built on company-owned land in an industrial area. In the meantime, Agius Trading has rented an alternative car park with the necessary permits.”
Times of Malta had reported how Agius Trading had found a way to employ new third-country national drivers despite a government moratorium on hiring new foreign cabbies.
They did this by acquiring a temporary work permit, commonly known as a ‘blue paper’, for their newly hired workers who are already based in Malta.
That month, Times of Malta also reported how dozens of third-country nationals listed their addresses at properties owned by Agius and another well-known associate of his, Daniel Refalo, even though the non-EU nationals did not live there.