Taxi drivers rebel against pirates

It was in fact bona fide taxi drivers in Soller who a fortnight ago raised the alarm through cutting off their direct services to hotels, preferring that clients contract their services through authorised taxi ranks.

Apparently there has been a particularly sharp rise in the number of older vehicles converted for multiple passenger use which are picking up business illegally at hotel receptions.

And this week, drivers in Pollensa are proposing that the use of the radio taxi service be stopped so that customers will physically have to go to the ranks. On top of the problem of pirate competition - in Pollensa alone, drivers calculate that eachof them is undercut between 3'000 and 3'200 euros - authorised operators are now being obliged to install metres in their cabs before the end of the year; currently the majority of towns and villages outside Palma don't work off fixed tariffs.

And all this, said Pedro Lopez, President of the Pollensa Taxi Drivers' Association, is in addition to the ongoing “war” between Palma-based drivers and those from other municipalities over journeys from and to ports and the airport - the most profitable trips.

The President has reportedly met with local authorities and asked that a system of spot check inspections be set up on cab drivers in outlying municipalities so that pirate taxis might be taken unawares and prosecuted.

He said that authorised cabs are supposed to be parked in a particular garage or stand when not in use but that he could see pirate cabs parked on the street.