Up to €13,000 for taxi drivers hit by deregulation

TAXI drivers will get up to €13,000 in compensation as part of a €13m hardship fund announced by the Government last night.

The scheme was set up to assist taxi drivers who lost out as a result of the deregulation of the industry two years ago. Transport Minister Séamus Brennan insisted last night the initiative was not a compensation scheme, but aimed to alleviate distress for people who had suffered serious loss. These include widows, old age pensioners, those who invested in wheelchair accessible taxis, and people struggling with large loan repayments.

The Hardship Panel, which assessed the awards, disallowed claims from almost 400 drivers who argued they had to work increased hours to make ends meet as a result of increased competition due to taxi liberalisation introduced in December 2000. Mr Brennan welcomed the findings of the independent panel, which was set up last February. He also pledged the hardship payments and other details of the scheme would be treated in confidence.

“I will also be appointing a new Taxi Regulator and among his/her first tasks will be to work out the details of the payments,” Mr Brennan said. The hardship report recommends payments of €15,000 for some 74 widows who were left dependent on income from taxi plates which had decreased in value from some €100,000 to €6,000 when the market was liberalised.

It also recommended payments of some €13,000 each to almost 600 taxi plate owners who had been left without a pension. Similarly, it awarded sums of about €9,000 to more than 300 drivers left with large repayments on loans taken to pay for taxi plates. A total of 316 drivers who invested in wheelchair accessible vehicles will get €3,000 each. Officials last night indicated that some money may be available for a small number of additional claims.

Unions representing taxi drivers last night said they were disappointed with the outcome and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte was sharply critical of the report.