Austin Gatt ‘baffled’ by student’s accusation

In a reply to the third year theatre student who called on the Transport Minister to apologise to commuters for the “disastrous attempt” to reform the bus system, Austin Gatt said he could not understand why he is being held responsible:

“I am still baffled as to why I should be blamed because a bus is late or because Arriva fails to respond to customer queries,” Gatt said in a statement, adding that he fully understood the frustration of Nicolà Abela Garrett with Arriva.

The student called Gatt a "fucking wanker" when he did not acknowledge her complaints on the public transport reform this week.

“I was a student once and I expect nothing less from a student, but to speak her mind and publicly express her protests without fear," Gatt said.

In her letter of apology, Abela Garrett also said that a complete stranger approached her after the incident, and “forced” her to give him her name.

Gatt assured the student that there was "absolutely no animosity and I consider the case as closed. I assure Ms. Abela Garrett that I will continue hounding Arriva until they deliver the service contracted for.”

He also said that when he uttered the words “no problem”, he was not addressing the student, “but to the people surrounding him, in order to ensure that they did not intervene to try and stop the student.”

Gatt went on to say that “University officials and people organising the event marking the €252,000 investment at University, had already noticed Ms. Abela Garrett’s body language during the Minister’s speech and were all expecting an outburst.

“A reporter and cameraman from One News accompanied the Minister on the way out and can attest that he was not surprised by the incident and took it in his stride as something normal considering the circumstances.”  

Meanwhile, University student newspaper insiteronline.com reports that the University administration has denied approaching Abela Garrett and that the administration said the “complete stranger” was not a University official.

Insiteronline.com goes on to report that students have been accusing Abela Garrett of intentionally seeking out publicity with a premeditated stunt, after correspondence on Facebook between her and a journalist from the Times of Malta was re-posted on the site.

“If you want, I can give you a great story tomorrow. Bring your notepad”, Abela Garrett reportedly told the journalist.