Pumping out diesel… from inside a garage!

A garage in a residential area in Mosta is raising concern among many of the residents in the vicinity as it has become apparent that the owners – Silverstar Garage and Car Rentals – are using the garage to store and distribute diesel to numerous vehicles.

MaltaToday received a number of complaints from residents in Triq il-Kultellaz in Mosta on the safety and health hazards they could suffer by having a diesel storage and pump in a garage in the area.

When contacted, Silverstar owner Rennie Zammit denied that the company had a reservoir or pump in the garage in question and that they only kept a very small volume of diesel in reserve for the vehicle rental fleet.

Residents in an area of Mosta have expressed concern that a diesel reservoir and pump are housed in a garage in a residential area, with flats all around

“There are no pumps, and we only store a very small volume in the garage to use in case of emergency, at night for example, for our own vehicles,” he said.

The Environmental and Resources Authority confirmed that no environmental permit for a diesel pump in Triq il-Kultellaz had ever been issued.

“We have checked our environmental permitting records and confirm that we have no applications for a petrol or diesel pump in Triq il-Kultellazz, Mosta,” their email read.

On Friday morning, MaltaToday witnessed a fuel bowser dispensing diesel at the garage, while a number of minivans and a coach lined up behind it.

When the bowser was done – after more than 30 minutes – the vans and coach moved up in front of the garage, where a man pulled a fuel pipe – with a black nozzle like those seen on diesel pumps at petrol stations – out to the waiting vehicles and topped their diesel tanks in turn.

Zammit insisted that the company only stored a very small volume of diesel on site for emergency purposes.

“And even so, diesel is no danger at all, it cannot catch fire, this is not oil or petrol,” he said. “We do not have any petrol in the garage, none at all.”

Vans and coaches line up in front of the garage waiting to top up their fuel tanks almost daily

Residents in the area told MaltaToday that the bowser was seen on site very frequently, while vans and coaches lined up in front of the garage, waiting to top up their fuel tanks, almost daily.

This appears to be happening more frequently now that the school year has started, with vehicles topping up their diesel very early in the morning before going to start picking up children on their school transport rounds.

Emails to the Regulator for Energy and Water Services (REWS), the authority regulating petrol stations, went unanswered by the time we went to print.