WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from Ireland
DUBLIN CABBIE MUST PAY PASSENGER €1,600 AFTER ‘INTERROGATION’
A Dublin taxi driver must pay €1,600 to a female passenger as redress after he subjected her to “interrogation” by repeatedly asking if she was single or lived alone and saying, “You look sexy”. Lucas Bittencourt, 39,
was prosecuted by the
National Transport Authority (NTA). He pleaded guilty to using obscene and offensive language toward a passenger on 14 May last year when he appeared at Dublin District Court on 11 March. Prosecution solicitor Jason Teahan said the woman flagged down the taxi in Dublin city centre, sat in the back
seat, and they “chatted generally.”
Bittencourt said he was Brazilian, but conversation became “a bit more personal, and he asked her, ‘Do you live alone?’ before they arrived”. When he reached her destination, he unbuckled his seat, turned and said: “I thought you were single. Do you live alone?”. The woman was “taken aback” and felt “a bit uncomfortable”. Mr Teahan told the judge that Bittencourt then said, “I didn’t get a good look at you.” He put the light on and told her, “You look good; you look sexy.” At this stage, she felt “very uncomfortable”, paid the fare and got out of the taxi”. She complained to the NTA and Bittencourt was found via the payment app she had used. Bittencourt was questioned and made a general denial, telling the NTA he was sorry for any offence caused, although he couldn’t recall the specifics of the trip. Defence counsel Patrick Jackson said his client has been a taxi driver for 15 years with an unblemished record and generally sent his earnings home. He was instructed to fully apologise on his client’s behalf for any inappropriateness. Mr Jackson said: “Any inappropriate behaviour was out of character”, and asked the judge to consider applying the Probation of Offenders Act (POA), sparing his client a criminal conviction. The offence does not carry a jail sentence but a €2,500 fine. Judge Anthony Halpin deemed it a serious case and said: “It trespassed upon the injured party’s right to safe passage without being subjected to inter-
76 from Italy
ROME TAXI CRISIS: 1.3 MILLION CALLS A MONTH UNANSWERED
rogation about sensitive personal matters.” He said the driver had a “statutory duty to respect his customers and not make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe”. To consider the POA, the Judge required €400 toward the NTA’s cost and €1,600 for the victim to redress the harm she experienced, saying: “This court takes that very seriously”. He added if Bittencourt had been convicted following a contested hearing, he may have lost the right to drive a taxi. The defence said the driver needed time to pay. The case was adjourned until December.
Italian cities including Rome and Milan are still suffering from a chronic shortage of taxis despite efforts by the government to alleviate the problem. In Rome some 1.3 million telephone requests for taxis are unsuccessful each month, while in Milan that number is around half a million a month. Last August the rightwing coalition, led by Giorgia Meloni, approved new regulations, as part of the so- called Asset decree, that allow larger cities to increase the number of taxi licences by 20% to meet demand. However the move has been fiercely opposed by taxi drivers, a powerful lobby in Italy, who regularly threaten to strike in protest at attempt to enact new measures. The last time the number of licences was increased in Rome was in 2005 while in Milan it was 2003. Italy’s antitrust regulator has repeatedly called for more taxis to be introduced in Rome and Milan, which have 7,692 taxis and 4,885 taxis respectively. Italian tourism minister Daniela Santanché recently posted a viral video on social media showing a lengthy queue for taxis at Rome’s Termini station, describing the scene as “a nice business card for tourists arriving in the capital!!”
APRIL 2024 PHTM
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