Thursday 28 March 2024

Illegally painted grey gas cylinders a threat to consumers

The safety of gas consumers in Malta is being jeopardised because one gas company is illegally and abusively painting in grey the green and yellow cylinders owned by Liquigas, and putting them on the market to the detriment of the consumers.

Through this irresponsible behaviour of changing the cylinders’ colour to grey and filled by third parties, Liquigas is being put in a position where it cannot assume responsibility of the cylinder as required by the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive (TPED) for the safety of the consumer.

In this scenario, Liquigas Malta Limited was left with no other alternative but to call on the First Hall of the Civil Court to find rival company Easygas Malta Ltd in breach of Liquigas’ property rights, of causing damages to it, and, among other claims, to find Easygas responsible to pay for the damages.

“On one hand, we have an abusive situation where our Liquigas’ yellow and green cylinders are being repainted in grey, making it difficult for Liquigas to manage its cylinder stock to ensure that they are up to the required standard for the benefit of the consumers, while at the same time Liquigas is obliged to assume various responsibilities imposed on the company to ensure that these cylinders remain safe,” explained Liquigas CEO Roberto Capelluto. “Here we are faced with an illegal and irresponsible practice leading to an absurd situation that one does not expect to find in normal well-functioning markets.”

Capelluto adds that the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) had issued a cease and desist order against Easygas, to stop this illegal activity and return the cylinders to the rightful owner. This however has been ignored by Easygas.

This particular behaviour by Easygas was not an isolated case. There have been several attempts by Easygas to hijack and use Liquigas’ cylinders leaving no other option to Liquigas but to take action against Easygas for their abusive behaviour.

The court case application filed today was signed by lawyers Stephen Muscat and Louise Sant Fournier, and legal procurator Silvana Vella.

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