Taxi dispute brewing over proposed operating changes

Palma taxi drivers are threatening to take industrial action if the Balearic authorities do not respond to their demands made in reply to a proposed shake up of taxi rules and regulations. A crisis is brewing over a new move which will allow out of town taxis to pick up clients at the airport, an area which, until now, has been exclusively served by Palma taxis. While the out of town cabbies will only be allowed to carry passengers wanting to go to a destination in the municipality from where the taxi originates, the President of the Palma Taxi Association, Gabriel Moragues, fears that the proposed change will open up the floodgates for cabbies from other municipalities to operate in the airport and the port of Palma shutting Palma cabbies out of the long-haul out of town market, which is highly lucrative. Moragues said yesterday that if the rules and regulations are changed, then he wants Palma's autonomous taxis to be allowed to pick up clients in other municiplaities, a procedure currently forbidden. A meeting between Palma taxi drivers and their colleagues from outside the city has been arranged for Saturday so that a solution to the problem, which could blow up into a major dispute, can be found.