Insurance checks see Galway taxis flee ranks

About one third of taxis normally on the ranks in Galway City disappeared on Saturday night after Gardaí commenced a check for tax and insurance.

It meant that those who fully comply with the laws had one of the best weekends in recent years as the competition ‘headed to the hills’.

Before the weekend the Gardaí had announced nationally that they were going to check on taxi drivers to ensure that they were fully compliant in relation to insurance cover and motor tax.

The news of this filtered through the various taxi ranks throughout the city and it resulted in many drivers not showing up for work over the weekend.

Industry sources estimate that around one third of taxis that generally operate for business in the city disappeared from the ranks.

There are claims that some taxi operators obtain insurance on a direct debit arrangement, get a disc – but then do not make subsequent monthly payments. Yet, they display an insurance disc purporting to cover them for the year.

Gerry Corbett of Taxi Drivers Galway said that it was the best weekend that he had for the past couple of years because there were so many operators gone from the ranks.

“It is known within the business that there is a huge amount of illegal operators in Galway city and it is time that they were weeded out.

“We welcome the Garda initiative to check every driver’s insurance policy and to ensure that they are fully compliant with the taxi laws.

“It was quite amazing to see so many drivers disappear from the taxi ranks over the weekend. We can only assume that it was because of the Garda action,” Mr Corbett said.

A spokesperson for Galway Gardaí said that the monitoring of taxis in Galway City would continue. He said that it was in the interest of passenger safety.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel