Hire-car drivers operating at the Tuschen Housing Scheme say that private cars are unfairly competing with them and their complaints to the police have fallen on deaf ears.
Several drivers complained bitterly yesterday that the presence of the private cars has seen them earning less. “Awe having a difficulty earning a dollar when the day come,” one said. He said that about 40 hire-car drivers regularly operate at the entrance to the scheme but now between 15 to 20 private cars operate there as well.
He said that while the hire-car drivers have to pay certain fees to get their hire-car licence in order, the private car operators pay nothing and this is unfair. He said that despite complaints to the police, nothing has been done. “If you call the police, they nah gah time with dah,” he said.
Another driver said that at a meeting the police commander of the division held with residents last Friday, the officer said that law enforcement officers cannot stop the private car owners from soliciting passengers. The drivers also said that while they were warned that it is an offence to stop at certain parts of the road and the police “harass” them if they do so, the private car drivers do it all the time and the police do not do anything. This newspaper yesterday observed several private cars dropping off passengers while stopping at a no-stopping zone.
The hire-car drivers said that they operate via a turn system while the private car operators do not follow any rules. “They messing with the system…it’s going to break the system up,” one said. “We trying to abide with the rules but they nah do that.”
The drivers said that they have made several complaints but nothing has
been done and they want the higher authorities such as the Ministry of Home Affairs to get involved. The monitor who oversees the turn system for the hire-car drivers said that he had applied to become a traffic warden but has not received a response from the authorities.
“The private cars a kill abe here,” one driver said.
