War of words over attack on cabbie

By Humphrey Carter A Palma taxi driver was lucky to be alive yesterday and his colleagues united in calls for greater levels of security. Cabbie Miquel Muntaner was attacked on Sunday, his throat was slit but his assailant fled empty handed. Angry taxi drivers pointed the finger at the city council yesterday, with Majorcan Small Business Association's president, Biel Moragues, accusing the city council of “being deaf” to the calls from hundreds of cabbies, increasingly worried about their personal safety because of the wave of attacks, for immediate action. Cab drivers want taxis to be installed with GPS satellite localisation systems and for financial help in covering the cost of installing in-car security systems. Moragues also said it is somewhat unfair that the city councillor for transport is also the chairman of the EMT Municipal Transport Company. “There's an obvious conflict of interests and he is only concerned about the municipal transport sector, he ignores the needs of the taxi sector as he doesn't consider a taxi to be a public service.” Biel Moragues added that the city council does little to help the situation “it has given the green light to the new tourist bus, but we're still awaiting news about tourist taxis,” he said. He also questioned why the night buses have a security guard on board, while no night time protection is provided for the city's taxi drivers. Cabbies have called for an urgent meeting with Palma Mayor Catalina Cirer, not only to resolve the security problems, but also make sure that the council does not start replacing taxi ranks with bus stops, which is what has happened recently in Arenal. They want to also lobby the councillor for transport against going ahead with his plan to ban cabbies from stopping to pick up clients in city centre streets. “We're now being accused of causing traffic problems and jams in the city centre, when all we're doing is offering the public with an important service,” Moragues said. The transport councillor however hit back later yesterday, advising taxi drivers to be clear on exactly what kind of concessions and assistance they want from the council. Alvaro Gijón said he deeply regretted Sunday's attack, but he said that to blame the council in the manner which Biel Moragues has, “is rather strong.” He added that the cabbies' demands, such as the GPS satellite system, are complicated and take time “for example, there are a number of taxi drivers who don't want the GPS system because they think the council will use it to check on how many taxis are in service at any one time. “Sadly, the GPS system would not have prevented Sunday's incident, it would have just sent a message of distress to the police.”