from France


WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from Romania


FRENCH CABBIES HELP CRIMINALS SMUGGLE MIGRANTS OVER CHANNEL


Corrupt French taxi drivers are being recruited by organised crime gangs to ferry small boat migrants to the sea to avoid being caught. People smugglers are giving taxi drivers a cut of the profits to ferry them to the coast - often with boats inside. It’s another tactic being used by smugglers to continue the trade after French police were successful in randomly stopping vans in Calais. This led to numerous arrests for transporting migrants. Now taxi and mini cab drivers are being recruited to bypass French police in the area. Last month in Boulogne, a gang were jailed for being involved in the practice, understood to be the first court case of its kind. An arrest warrant has been issued for the leader, who did not turn up to court but was jailed for seven years in his absence. Two were


BUCHAREST CABBIES PLAN HUNGER STRIKE IF DEMANDS ARE NOT MET


recently jailed for


transporting migrants and taking a cut from the profits - believed to be £50,000 in five weeks. One claimed in a police interview that he had been told to transport the migrants by French police. But his excuse was slammed by a judge and he was jailed for 12 months. A prosecution source in Calais said: “We expect more and more of these cases. The smugglers are staying one step ahead of the game and are treating it as a black market industry. “They see it as easy money. It is guaranteed custom, pre-paid and more lucrative than normal taxi work. “They are not expecting taxi drivers to be ferrying the migrants around but they are given the information from an organised crime gang to pick them up having entered a part of France. “Contact is all done on encrypted apps and then they take them to the coast where a small boat will be waiting in the night.” It comes amid mounting tensions between France and Britain as to how much of taxpayers’ cash has been given to them to stop the problem. Tory MP Nigel Mills said: “I’d have thought this taxi driver method should have been stopped a long time ago based on how much cash we have been sending them.”


PHTM MARCH 2024


Romanian taxi drivers protesting in Constitutiei Square in Bucharest are threatening to go on a hunger strike if their demands are not met after three days of demonstrations. “We have three days of protest. If nothing is resolved in these three days, our colleagues from across the country plan to go on a hunger strike at the Government and at every county prefecture, nationally, so that the whole of Europe hears that here regulation is not desired, as has happened in most European countries,” said Remus Nedelcu, the president of the National Association of Transport Operators in Taxi Regime, cited by Digi24. He also added that the “taxi service is on the verge of collapse.” Protesting taxi drivers have obtained authorisation for 800 participating cars for the protest on Monday, February 26. For Tuesday and Wednesday, the organisation received approval for 1,800 cars daily. The taxi drivers provide services which are regulated by the local authorities, while the ride-hailing operators observe a much less restricted legislation while still directly competing in the same market,


the


representatives of the taxi drivers explained. The main demands of taxi drivers include limiting alternative transport services according to criteria similar to those for taxi services, eliminating the issuance of permits for rented cars, and raising the maximum age of authorised cars from ten years to 15 years. They also demand the elimination of dynamic pricing and compliance with tax laws regarding taxi services.


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