Malta Public Transport has confirmed it is looking into a complaint against a bus inspector who had shouted at an old man after he was caught using his recently-deceased wife’s Tallinja card. 

The shocking incident took place last week on an X2 bus connecting Sliema and the airport, said a passenger who witnessed the scene and reported it to Malta Public Transport.

“As I got on the bus, I saw a Maltese inspector with a hi-vis top raising his voice at an elderly man,” she wrote on her Facebook wall. “As I turned around, I could see the old man was in floods of tears, at which point an English inspector came over to calm the situation and comfort the man as the Maltese inspector continued to raise his voice.”

“It turns out the old man lost his wife three and a half weeks ago and he was using his wife’s Tallinja card as it had €50 on it and he couldn’t afford to top his own card up. The Maltese inspector wanted to fine him €50 regardless! This poor man was in tears and there was absolutely no compassion at all!”

The passenger said she started shouting at the Maltese inspector for his heartless behaviour, upon which other passengers chimed in, while she and another passenger ended up paying him €15 to top up his card. 

Malta Public Transport confirmed with Lovin Malta an internal process is underway to discipline the inspector for his behaviour but said the whole situation ultimately boiled down to a misunderstanding.

“Although the passenger was using the card fraudulently, he was not fined and the card wasn’t taken away from him,” a MPT spokesperson said. “The English inspector was telling him he had to go a ticket booth with his wife’s death certificate but wasn’t sure he was understanding him, so he called over his Maltese colleague to speak to him in Maltese.” 

“There was a bit of a misunderstanding between the inspectors, and the Maltese inspector thought the man was refusing to pay the fine, as happens on a daily basis. It all got a bit emotional then.”

She said the inspector’s aggressive behaviour was unjustifiable, but the whole situation must be put into the context of frequent abuse of Tallinja cards and daily aggression from passengers to inspectors.

Have you witnessed any aggressive behaviour on public transport? Please e-mail us on [email protected] 

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]