Taxi-drivers' representatives have rejected allegations that some drivers intimidated the employees of a new coach service competing with them for business at Dublin Airport.

Employees of Aircoach, a privately-owned bus service operating between Dublin Airport and the city centre, say some taxi-drivers were so infuriated by the competition that they surrounded two of the buses in a coach-park 10 days ago and refused to let them depart.

They say the taxi-drivers were aggrieved about losing business to the service, which has a terminus almost directly opposite the entrance to the arrivals hall in full view of the taxi rank.

Representatives of taxi-drivers say the incident never took place, and Aer Rianta says there is no record of such an incident on the airport police log. A spokeswoman felt the conflict had been "blown out of proportion".

Tommy O'Gorman, of the National Taxi-Drivers' Union of Ireland, says they have no problem with competition at the airport, but they resented the fact the coach service was allowed to distribute leaflets in the arrivals hall.

He claims employees of the service were "poaching" customers when there was a shortage of cabs at the rank. He says this shortage is not because of a lack of taxis but because the taxi-holding area is a quarter-mile from the rank. Tension between the cab-drivers and the coach operators "boiled over" last Friday week, according to Mr O'Gorman.

Taxi-drivers protested to Aer Rianta by withholding the 50p charge paid to the company by each taxi which picks up a fare at the airport.

The matter was resolved quickly, according to Mr O'Gorman, when Aer Rianta undertook to halt the distribution of leaflets in the arrivals hall. He said a member of the union's executive had been assigned to Dublin Airport to ensure the situation did not boil over again.

Aircoach also alleges that prospective customers were "encouraged to change their minds" about using the service by Dublin Bus employees in the first week of operation, when the terminus was near the Dublin Bus terminus.

One Aircoach customer phoned RTE radio's Liveline programme to complain she was temporarily prevented from entering the company's bus by Dublin Bus employees who were touting for business.

The Aircoach managing director, Mr John O'Sullivan, said the hectoring of his customers became so bad the company assigned some its employees to escort prospective customers to their buses.

Following the difficulties with the Dublin Bus drivers, the Aircoach terminus was moved closer to the arrivals terminal. A spokesman for Dublin Bus said there was no harassment of Aircoach passengers by Dublin Bus staff. He did not believe the allegations by the caller to Liveline.

Mr O'Sullivan said there had been no harassment from any quarter in the last week. "Some of the incidents were rather unpleasant and customers and members of my family had to face a fairly negative reaction from our competitors," he said. "But since then the taxi-drivers and the Dublin Bus people seem to have accepted that there will be competition and that we will all have to live with each other."