The Supreme Court’s order issued on Wednesday 29th September remains incomprehensible for the taxi unions. On the other hand, the announcement of Georges Ah Yan has sown doubts and confusion which aroused the anger of the General Taxi Owners’ Union, but also alerted the Ministry of Transport, the NLTA and the Tourism Authority. The concerned parties met on Thursday 30th September for a decision. A week-long surveillance plan for the airport and hotels has been put in place by the authorities to monitor the movement of possible ‘Fraudsters’.
Wrong reading and wrong announcement
“I prefer to think of it as a confusion caused by a misreading of the judgement and a bad announcement by George Ah Yan,” said Ashraf Ali Ramdin. “No one will agree that a village or city taxi should be on the same level as hotel and airport taxis. It is illogical because the fees and charges are not the same”.
Comparison between the two categories of Taximen
Depending on its licence, a normal taxi must operate in its own square and area, whereas a hotel taxi operates only in its hotel and an airport taxi in the airport. A normal taxi can operate directly after obtaining its licence whereas a hotel taxi must prove that it has operated for three years in a taxi rank before it can apply to operate in a hotel, and the same applies to those attached to the airport. In terms of insurance, the normal taxi can operate if it has basic insurance whereas the other category of taxi must have comprehensive insurance. And finally, a normal taxi is entitled to keep the same car for 20 years and those from hotels and the airport had to change at the tenth year, a relaxation to 16 years is in force since 2016. In addition, the normal taxi has not been trained to be aware of and eligible to operate with foreign or hotel bound passengers during this pandemic period. On a more personal note, when interviewing for his hotel license, the taximan is judged on English and French language skills, his dress, cleanliness, also passes a personality test and also produces a character certificate.
Raid set up
“The Minister, Alan Ganoo was well aware of this file and was even supposed to present it to the council of ministers for contestation. But there is a persistent misunderstanding between the two authorities of the NLTA and the TA. The law is clear and we follow the NLTA’s guidelines,” says Ashraf Ali Ramdin. According to him “a normal taxi can pick up and drop off a customer from a hotel or airport freely if he has been called for. But he has no right to park at the stand and operate freely in these places reserved for another category of taximen or operate freely everywhere as Georges Ah Yan made clear in his press conference. Furthermore, following our meeting on Thursday with Minister Alan Ganoo, it emerged that officers of the NLTA, TA and police forces will conduct raids at the airport and in hotels to punish any taxi that is operating illegally. This operation will last for a week,” announced the GTOU secretary. The Commissioner of Police will be at the airport this Friday morning to commemorate the reopening.
