LIMERICK taxi drivers were refused a High Court order yesterday to restrain the operators of a hackney firm.
Mr Justice Barron said the criminal law was strong enough to prevent the damage being caused to the taxi men.
Five taxi drivers licensed to operate in the Limerick taxi meter area brought a claim against Mr Jude Williams and Treaty Hackney Cabs Ltd, operating at Shannon Street, Limerick. The firm has 50 hackney cabs whose drivers hire radio equipment from the company.
The taxi men sought to restrain the hackney firm operating its business in a manner permitted only to taxi drivers. Under 1963 regulations only a taxi may use radios in a public place to obtain fares.
The judge said hackneys were intended to provide a private hire service, but Treaty Hackney Cabs was providing a public hire service.
The taxi men had established an interference with their livelihood, but the real issue was whether injunctive relief was the only way the taxi men could be protected from the invasion of their constitutional rights. Treaty Hackney Cabs was only one of several firms operating a hackney service.
While there was no direct evidence that each of the other firms operated unlawfully, the evidence of other prosecutions and undertakings leaned to that view.
Mr Justice Barron said that at present he was of the view that the criminal law was sufficiently strong to prevent the damage being done to the taxi men.