84 cases against taxi drivers referred to gardaí

SOME 84 cases of alleged abusive conduct by taxi drivers have been referred to the gardaí by the Taxi Regulator since the start of last year.

Figures released by the Commission for Taxi Regulation indicate there were 340 complaints about abusive conduct to the regulator last year and 95 so far this year.

Abusive conduct could include perceived abruptness, rudeness, foul language, intimidating language, refusal to complete a journey, over-charging or more serious, criminal conduct such as assault.

"Each of these allegations once found to be valid would have resulted in the driver being interviewed," said Jennifer Gilna, head of corporate affairs with the commission. Last year 64 of these cases resulted in formal warnings. In 16 cases "advice" was given to the drivers and 80 were passed on to the gardaí for investigation.

Since the start of this year there have been 95 complaints about abusive conduct, of which eight have resulted in formal warnings, 11 in the driver being given "advice" and four have been passed on to gardaí.

"In terms of prosecution one incident that resulted from a complaint about conduct went before the courts in 2007," said Ms Gilna.

Section 51 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 empowers the commission to investigate "the conduct and behaviour of the driver". Under the Small Public Service Vehicle (SPSV) Regulations dating back to 1963 a driver is obliged to behave in a "civil, orderly and respectful manner".

Ms Gilna said that if a customer wanted to make a complaint it was important they got a receipt from the driver as this holds information identifying the taxi driver. The driver's number is also sufficient. Complaints must be made in writing to the commission and a complaint form is available from the website taxiregulator.ie.

"Once that form is filled out and sent into us it is passed on to an enforcement officer, the driver is interviewed".

Describing the process as "very fair" to everyone she said there were occasions where the customer had in fact been abusive or intoxicated during the journey. Only in the most serious circumstances would the gardaí decide to rescind a driver's licence to drive a taxi. "Everyone has a right to make a living."

There were nine enforcement officers working at changing locations throughout the State.