Authorities turn blind eye to celebratory buscades but impose stringent conditions

A ‘live and let live’ approach to buscades means that authorities tend to turn a blind eye to excessive public celebration, but the authorties still impose stringent conditions on organisers and providers.

When it comes to buscades, it is not merely a case of operating an open-top bus, but there is also the element of what the police call a ‘one-time event’.

“It is a complex issue with a number of regulations involved,” Inspector Pierre Guido Saliba told MaltaToday.

“This doesn’t mean that only one such event takes place in the history of Malta,” he said, “but it means that the particular organisers are not organising such an event on a regular basis.” Events by local councils, such as cultural events in village squares, are also considered to be one-time events.

For a one-time event to take place, permission from the police is required, and this permit is subject to a number of other no-objections.

To begin with, the No-Objection Certificate is required from the local councils of the localities in which the buscade will commence and also come to an end. A NOC from Transport Malta is also necessary in order to verify the route and make sure the buscade does not clash with any roadworks or possibly cause any issues in this regard.

Police also ask for an insurance policy which covers these type of events, as the insurance for an open-top bus is not enough. The insurance must be aware of the specific risks, for instance if alcohol will be consumed during the event. To this effect, the insurance company would request a risk assessment, as it is within its interest to do so.

Police would require the names of the organisers of the activity in order for there to be a contact person in the event of breach of permit, and so that the organisers could be held responsible in the case of criminal acts. They would also require precise details pertaining to the activity.

Article 116 of the Subsidiary Legislation 65.11, Motor vehicles regulations, states that no driver should operate or permit to be operated any type of radio or record player which might hinder the driver from hearing properly, while the majority of events and parties on open-top buses do, in fact, involve loud music.

However, the inspector said that this law exists in order to ensure that the driver is not left in charge of operating any other apparatus while driving. Apart from this, he said that a one-time event permit has the power to override existing legislation, to an extent.  “Every law has its own objections, but one has abide by the dispositions of the law unless there is a regulation which says otherwise. The one-time event permit is such a regulation in itself.”

But the inspector said that the police don’t receive many reports of accidents during these events. “Although accidents do happen during buscades, it is not an outlier as a statistic. There are just as many accidents on normal bus rides.”

“Of course, this is still more than we would wish, as ideally, no accidents should happen. But the incidents which occur during buscades are well within the norm.”

However, the inspector said that here he is excluding the accidents which might never have been reported to the police. “Often, if someone gets hurt during a buscade, they would come to an agreement with the driver or the bus company and it would never even arrive to [the police].”

Complaints received by the police involving buscades, particularly during graduates’ celebrations, tend to revolve around the behaviour of participants, rather than anything related to traffic.

He mentioned reports of graduates throwing things off from buses, for instance. Such cases, he said, were not the fault of the organisers or of buscades as a whole, and when such instances occur, the offenders are identified and charged accordingly. Last year, he said, arrests were made due to the behaviour of individuals who happened to be participating in a buscade.

“The majority of buscades go on without any incidents, but there will always be individuals who don’t behave properly.” the inspector said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s the fault of the event, or of buscades in general.”

However, the inspector admitted that not all buscades hold the required permit. “Permits need to be applied for by the organisers, and there are legal consequences for those caught without a permit.”

“There will be fines for those caught without a permit, and even harsher repercussions for repeat offenders.”

The inspector explained that it was not only the organisers who were held responsible, but also the companies which rented out the bus. “If due diligence was not done on the part of the operators to make sure that the permit is in order, they risk losing their licence.”

“The [company] needs to be fully insured for the one-time event, and both parties are responsible for making sure that permits and insurances are taken care of properly and lawfully.”

One of the conditions for having the permit approved by police is that the bus in question must have an insurance specifically for buscades.

However, the issue remains that insurance terms are consistently broken. “If the insurance doesn’t cover certain details, it’s as if there is no insurance to begin with,” the inspector said, adding that action would be taken accordingly in such cases.

On the issue of drinking in public, the inspector said that it was up to the officer on the ground to be informed of the laws and act accordingly.
  “While passing through Sliema, for instance, there is no issue with drinking alcohol in public. However, as soon as the bus enters Paceville, for instance, there may be a breach,” he said, referring to different by-laws issued by different local councils.

The inspector mentioned a particular police practice which is usually assumed during  mass events.

“Direct intervention during such events tends to complicate matters and lead to further injuries. When possible, we try to avoid this scenario,” he said, explaining that in the event of a breach, the officer on the ground – often a plainclothes officer – would resort to taking photographs and taking note of the vehicle in question.

Appropriate action would be taken eventually in order to avoid conflating the matter and fuelling the chaos.

“Different cases require different tactics, which [the police] make use of depending on the activity and according to the particular situation.”

“Legal issues regarding buscades in general are dealt with on a case-to-case basis.”

Stanley Agius, Media and Communications Manager at Transport Malta, agreed.

“For bad or for worse, it is part of our culture to turn a blind eye to such celebrations,” he said, though he too confirmed authorities would intervene even in this context, following reports of accesses.