WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from France


ROADS AND AIRPORTS DISRUPTED AS TAXI DRIVER PROTESTS CONTINUE


After a week of intense demon- strations marked by


clashes with


police and wide- spread disruption, French taxi drivers are vowing to con- tinue protests following “unsatisfactory” talks with the government. The initial wave of protests, which began on Monday, May 19, saw thousands of drivers blockade roads and airports across France, particularly in the south, in a defiant stand against changes to medical transport fare calculations and perceived unfair competition from ride-hailing apps such as Uber. In the capital, Monday’s demonstrations escalated to angry scenes with drivers reportedly setting alight wooden pallets and tyres, leading to police deploying tear gas and 64 arrests. “Most members have decided to continue the movement. They are very angry,” stated Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Taxi Federation, after meetings at the Ministries of Transport and Health on Tuesday, May 27, yielded no significant progress. The core of the dispute remains a government reform, set for October 1, that will cut medical transport fares, a significant portion of income for many drivers. The new pricing structure includes a €13 charge covered by health insurance, followed by a kilometre rate, aiming to curb soaring healthcare transport costs. Increased checks have been promised to limit the number of unlicensed drivers and the “hailing” of private hire vehicles such as Uber (known as VTCs, or Voitures de Transport avec Chauffeur, in France), and technical meetings are planned, but union representatives denounced the lack of “significant progress.”


Though the nightly rallying point on Boulevard Raspail in Paris was “partly empty last night,” according to Cordier, future actions are anticipated to be “more sporadic and less organised by the federations.” In Pau, where Prime Minister François Bayrou is MP, around 200 taxis staged a go-slow operation, with a


PHTM JUNE 2025


farmers’ union also pledging to join the protest. However, no immediate action was planned for 28 May around Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, in Parisian train stations, or around the Roland-Garros stadium, where the French Open tennis tournament is currently taking place.


from Japan


JAPANESE TAXI DRIVER SUSPECTED OF RAPING 50 WOMEN


Japanese police announced on May 22 the arrest of a former taxi driver on suspicion of drugging and raping a female passenger, with media reports suggesting the existence of dozens more victims. The 54-year-old suspect was taken into custody on May 21 on “suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse and violation of the law on punishment of filming of sexual parts,” a Tokyo police spokesman told AFP. The arrest stems from an incident in 2024 where the man allegedly “got a woman, then in her 20s, to take sleeping pills which caused her to lose consciousness, took her to his home and committed an indecent act, which he filmed.” Traces of sleeping pills were reportedly found in the victim’s hair. Further investigations by the Yomiuri Shimbun Daily and Jiji Press revealed a disturbing pattern, as police reportedly uncovered approximately 3,000 videos and images depicting the man sexually assaulting around 50 women in his taxi or at his residence. This footage is said to date back to 2008. This is not the first time the former driver has faced legal trouble. Media reports indicate he was previously arrested in October 2024 on suspicion of drugging another woman and robbing her of 40,000 yen (£200). He was released after that incident but was taken into custody again in December for alleged indecent assault, before his latest arrest


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