POTHOLE POLITICS SCOTTISH PH ASSOCIATION IN TALKS WITH
POTHOLE PROTEST GROUP TO MOUNT CAMPAIGN
The Scottish Private Hire Association (SPHA) have started discussions with the organisers of the
pothole protest group, Potholes Make Glasgow. The two action groups are talking about mounting a joint campaign against Glasgow City Council on the state of the city’s roads and potholes. The Potholes Make Glasgow group, which boats an online membership of over 1,000, held a protest on Saturday 28 January in George Square complaining that potholes are wrecking their cars and that the council is failing to compensate for damages caused. Dozens of Glaswegians gathered at the protest, many showed up with signs such as “Cars fit for roads, roads not fit for cars” and
“Fuel duty, VED, VAT. We pay you loads, now fix the roads”. The crowd gathered in front of the City Chambers hoping to force Glasgow City Council to improve driving conditions. Recently, the SPHA said they had written to the council to inform them that they would be assisting their members through making claims for damages to private hire cars when the damage was caused by council’s negligence
the in
maintaining the road network. The SPHA’s General Secretary, Eddie Grice, also tweeted that he had written to RSAC Motorsport to apply to have the City of Glasgow recognised as an official rally course for rally car championship events. In a pithy comment made by Grice, he said Glasgow’s “road surfaces would make for a thrilling quasi-off-road experience”. During 2021, the leaders of the SPHA organised two large impact protests in the city centre during the pandemic to highlight the lack of support the private hire and taxi trades were recieving
during lockdowns. These protests were a go-slow convoy of private hire cars and taxis and also a George Square vehicle sit-in. The SPHA and the organisers of the Potholes Make Glasgow action group are now in discussions about working together on a multi-pronged campaign to get the city’s roads sorted. Mr Grice commented, “I can confirm discussions have have begun between our association and the protest group called Potholes Make Glasgow.
These
talks are at an early stage, so we’re not able to say what any joint campaign might look like yet, but I imagine a large joint protest between our two memberships is on the cards.”
PHTM MARCH 2023
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