Taxi Driver Online

Bristol Evening Post

December 10, 2007 Monday

Taxidriversthreatenstrikeaction

The Christmas and New Year party season could be severely hampered this year after taxi drivers threatened possible strike action.

Hackney carriage drivers have voted to hold a ballot on industrial action over the city council's plans to remove a limit on the number of cabs allowed to operate in Bristol.

If union members voted in favour of walking off the job, the city's party season would be badly hit.

About 150 angry drivers held a meeting at a cricket club in Gordon Road, Whitehall, yesterday, to discuss what action to take over the city council's proposals to deregulate the service. They claim there is already not enough work to go around and are worried that the move would lead to Bristol being swamped with taxis.

They are now planning to hold a demonstration before Christmas, with the possibility of more strikes in the New Year.

Christine Morgan, spokeswoman for the Transport and General Workers Union, lives in Mangotsfield and has been a taxi driver for the past 19 years.

She said: "There's a strong consensus that there needs to be some form of action taken by drivers because of the way this has been done by the licensing department. We have not been listened to and policies are being taken up without any attention being given to our input.

"We are going to write letters of no confidence to the licensing department and the city council and we have taken a decision to consider industrial action.

"We don't want to cause too much disruption for the members of the public so it needs to be thought through carefully. Anything we do will be properly organised and we will be sure to let the people of the city know about it before it happens."

The city council was unavailable for comment last night.
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