CABBIES AT WAR

TAXI drivers are FIGHTING each other in a desperate battle for fares, their union boss claimed yesterday.

National Taxi Drivers' Union president Tommy Gorman said: "We have known drivers to get into fist fights on the ranks.

"It doesn't take a lot for tempers to rise when drivers can't pay their mortgages or make a reasonable living.

"Two weeks ago outside Copper Face Jacks nightclub on Harcourt Street in Dublin a driver beat up another driver over a fare.

"The driver was punched through the door window of his car and was badly beaten around the face. The gardai were called.

"There have also been a number of incidents on the ranks at Dublin Airport."

There are 13,000 taxis in Dublin operating from only 111 ranks.

And Irish Taxi Drivers Federation leader John Ussher claimed the industry has reached saturation point, with drivers having to work more than 80 hours a week to make ends meet.

A driver needs 12 to 15 fares a day to make a reasonable living and that number of passengers is just not there for the huge number of taxis in the city, unions claim.

He said: "I've been in the industry for 40 years and I've never seen it as bad, the atmosphere is not pleasant.

"When Seamus Brennan was Minister for Transport he said there was a jungle atmosphere in the taxi industry, what he never said was that his party was responsible for it.

"It's like a bomb ready to explode. Drivers want a form of action from their representatives and the Government."

The unions plan to lobby the Taxi Regulator next month to raise the minimum fare charge of EUR3.80 by 15 per cent to stop the situation from descending into chaos.

Tommy Gorman added: "We will be asking for an increase in the fare because of the rise in the price of fuel.

"We will ask for a 15 per cent minimum increase and I still don't think that will be sufficient to cover the extra costs and still make a living."

He added: "It was all predicted by experts in deregulation, they saw it happen in America.

"It was predicted that drivers would be fighting within three years of deregulation. It took seven years for it to happen here."

Copyright 2008 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.