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Posts Tagged ‘Protest’

Cabbies Protest against Deregulation in St. Albans

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Cab drivers in St. Albans are staging a protest for the second time in 10 days, against the deregulation of the trade.

The taxi drivers argue that there are too many drivers who are competing for passengers and fares.

There has been a 100% increase in taxis since deregulation in 1999 according to Mohammed Khan from the St. Albans and Harpenden Taxi Association.

The protest lasted for 4 hours. Khan said that his earnings had fallen by 30% in 2 years.

To make a living wage, Khan who has been a taxi driver for 22 years said “The minimum we have to work is 12 hours a day, six days a week”.

Khan apologised to the general public for the strike but said they had to make a point to the council and highlight their dissatisfaction.

He explained that “St. Albans is a very small and compact town and can only cater for so many cabs and I think we surpassed that a long time ago”.

In 1995, the taxi trade in St. Albans was regulated and the district council restricted the number of vehicle licences issued until 1999 when there were 127 hackney carriages.

However, the limit was removed as the strategy was considered too restrictive and there are currently 259 licensed cabs which are all covered by private hire insurance.

Drivers in St. Albans once again asked the licensing committee to consider bringing in a limit on the number of taxi licenses granted but failed in their appeal.

“I would like [the council] to take a serious look at our plight. I think they could do a survey of demand and find out if there is a need or not”, Khan explained.

Chairman of the licensing and regulatory committee at St. Albans District Council, Councillor Gorden Myland, said “With the number of taxi drivers that there are in St Albans, if they weren’t making money, they wouldn’t be coming into St Albans to trade”.

Myland explained that in both 2009 and 2007, reports requesting regulation of licenses were considered by the committee, and based on a reply from the Department for Transport and a report by the Office of Fair Trading, on both occasions the decision was made not to regulate.

“I don’t think that a capped system is correct. Besides, over the past 2 years there have only been six new plates added”, Myland pointed out.

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Taxi Trouble in Athens causing Chaos for Everyone

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Taxi drivers in Greece have been causing chaos at the peak of the summer tourist season, by staging a strike since Monday. The angry cabbies have blocked roads leading to the port of Piraeus and Athens International Airport, drawing criticism from officials who are worried about harming Greece’s vital tourism industry.

The Greek taxi drivers are protesting about the government’s plans to liberalise and lift restrictions on issuing taxi licenses.

Demetrios Kapelos, a taxi driver participating in the blockade said, “We’ve seen our earnings decline by more than 40% in the past year because of the recession and having more taxis on the streets will drive many of us out of business”.

One taxi driver describes his struggle to support his family because of the cost of running his cab. He explains that finding cheap taxi insurance is near impossible and the high cost of petrol prices doesn’t help any of the drivers either.

In the heart of the capital, traffic is at a standstill, with a fleet of taxis honking their horns to oppose the government plans. Drivers have also set a cab on fire outside the prefect’s office shouting “Thieves! Thieves!”.

Tourists visiting the country filled most of the trains this week on the metro lines to Piraeus and Athens International Airport. Shuttle buses to and from the airport were also arranged by airports to help the tourists.

Pavlos Geroulanos, Culture Minister said “The way they are protesting is very bad at a crucial moment for tourism because every Greek family, even the taxi drivers themselves, are making a living from tourism”.

16% of Greece’s GDP relies on their ancient monuments and beautiful islands. This year they are hoping for a 10% increase after tourism dropped by a fifth over the past 2 years due to the global downturn, violent anti-austerity protests and repeated strikes.

The new license fee of 3,000 Euros is a “huge blow for owners who paid 8,000 Euros for a licence just two years ago”, said a spokesman for the taxi-owners union.

If the government did not reverse the reforms, taxi drivers have threatened to prolong their protests.

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Black Cabs planning to bring London to a Standstill over Olympic Ban

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

All twenty five thousand cabbies in London are planning to revolt over a ban on them using the VIP one hundred mile road network during the 2012 Olympic Games.

The road network has also been banned for private hire cars, in a bid to make the lanes clear for international sports officials, athletes and the media, which will also cause chaos for people who live in London.

It is likely that cab fares will increase if the move for banning taxis goes ahead. An executive at the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), which represents nine thousand cabbies, said “We will have to deal with the customer’s frustration as there will be a massive problem getting people where they want to go. Prices will soar as we’ll be stuck in jams”.

Even though Transport for London, which operates the lanes, has offered pick-up and drop-off points at the Olympic Game’s Venues, cab drivers say because the lanes will be restricted to official vehicles only, they will be unable to reach them.

Taxi drivers are also in dispute over restrictions such as bans of U-turns and right-hand turns on key routes. The LTDA caused gridlock three years ago over a dispute with private hire cabs and will consider the same action if their demands are not met.

The traffic restrictions including the phasing of traffic lights, ban on turns, suspension of pedestrian crossings and parking bays, form part of the £25 million Olympic Route Network and will be exclusively used by eighty two thousand members of the Olympic family and emergency vehicles on call. Unofficial vehicles will face £200 fines if they choose to use the lanes.

The main hotspot of the Olympic Games lane network will be the roads linking the Olympic Park to the hotels in Park Lane. With the ban on cab drivers and taxis with private hire insurance using these roads, they may lose potential business from customers. These restrictions will mean huge parts of London may also become no go areas for anyone wishing to use them.

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