Six Months Jail for Underground Taxi Driver: Malta’s Ride-Hailing Wild West Exposed

A 34-year-old Ghanaian national has been handed a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to operating as an unlicensed taxi driver in Malta for over half a year – a case that has reignited debate over the island’s booming but increasingly crowded ride-hailing scene.

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit heard how Joseph Mensah* cruised Sliema, St Julian’s and the airport perimeter daily between June and December 2023, using a private white Toyota Vitz to ferry passengers for cash. Transport Malta investigators finally nabbed him during a routine sting last month when an inspector posing as a tourist flagged him down outside the Valletta cruise-liner terminal. Mensah quoted €18 for the trip to Balluta – almost double the regulated white-taxi meter fare – and agreed to accept payment by Revolut, unaware the “tourist” was recording every word.

In court on Monday, Mensah admitted to providing a passenger service without the requisite licence, insurance or roadworthiness certificate. He also confessed to using falsified Bulgarian driving documents to secure short-term rental contracts. Defence lawyer Charmaine Cherrett argued her client was “trying to survive” after losing his construction job when a developer went bust, but the magistrate countered that “personal hardship can never legitimise jeopardising public safety”. Alongside the jail term, Mensah was fined €4,600 and banned from holding a Maltese driving licence for two years.

The verdict lands in the middle of a perfect storm for Malta’s transport sector. Official figures show the number of registered taxis has ballooned from 1,250 pre-pandemic to almost 3,800 today, thanks to liberal e-cab reforms championed in 2021. Yet enforcement officers complain they are outgunned: only 14 inspectors patrol the entire archipelago on a given night. “It’s Whac-A-Mole,” one veteran told Hot Malta, speaking off the record. “We shut one guy down, three new Facebook profiles pop up offering ‘cheap airport runs’.”

For locals, the issue is about more than unlicensed fares; it’s about who gets to share in Malta’s tourism goldrush. “We welcome foreigners, but play by the rules like the rest of us,” argued Antoine Zahra, 57, a third-generation black-cab driver whose family bought its first Morris Oxford in 1968. “I pay €18,000 a year for insurance, road tax and radio dispatch. How can I compete with someone whose only overhead is a data bundle?”

Passengers, however, are split. Backpackers queuing outside the airport’s newly opened whisky bar praise the underground drivers’ cheaper prices and willingness to accept card payments – still a bugbear in official white taxis. “I paid €12 to Gżira in a guy’s Kia. Meter said €19,” boasted Swedish traveller Lukas Bergqvist. Yet horror stories circulate in expat WhatsApp groups: alleged sexual harassment, last-minute price hikes, even a Spanish visitor left on the hard shoulder after refusing to pay a €70 surcharge for “luggage handling”.

Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia reacted swiftly to the sentencing, announcing a 30-day blitz codenamed “Operation Yellow Cap”, during which plain-clothes officials will trawl nightlife hubs scanning number plates against the national taxi register. Repeat offenders risk vehicle confiscation and €50,000 fines. “Malta’s reputation as a safe destination is non-negotiable,” Farrugia tweeted. Critics counter that sustainable solutions – better late-night bus coverage, a cap on e-cab licences, streamlined pathways for migrants to enter the legal workforce – remain sidelined.

NGO aditus foundation, which monitors migrant rights, warns criminalisation merely pushes drivers further underground. “If we allowed asylum-seekers to apply for trade licences after one year, instead of the current three, many would choose legality,” director Neil Falzon said. Meanwhile, the Malta Chamber of SMEs fears reputational fallout. “Tourists don’t distinguish between a licensed cab and a random car. One bad ride can colour their entire holiday,” president Paul Abela noted.

Back in court, Mensah hugged his lawyer before being led away. His Vitz, battered by 42,000 kilometres of island shuttling, now languishes in a government pound. Whether the six-month sentence deters copy-cat operators or simply creates vacancy for the next hustler remains to be seen. What is certain is that, on a 27-kilometre rock where tourism and migration intersect daily, the struggle over who steers the wheel – and who rides in the back – is far from over.

*Name changed to protect identity.