Taxi drivers should not have other full-time jobs, says union

A TAXI union leader has called on the new taxi regulator to consider restricting people with other full-time jobs from entering the profession.

Vinnie Kearns of the National Taxi Drivers’ Union said he was aware of around 40 workers from one large factory on Dublin’s northside who had taxi plates.

“They are a potential danger, not only to people when they are driving taxis, but their colleagues in their other place of work, because of the long hours they are working,” he said.

Mr Kearns said easy entry to the profession for people in other permanent employment was the wrong way to guarantee a proper taxi service in Dublin.

Earlier this week Mr Kearns said part-time drivers posed a safety risk to the public because they worked in excess of maximum legal working time limits.

However, he also admitted full-time drivers were working even longer - but within the law.

Full-time drivers are exempt from any working time limit as the legislation does not cover transport workers or self-employed people.

Yesterday, Mr Kearns accepted that any driver working 70 hours per week was “to a degree” a potential danger to customers and other road users.

However, he claimed that many full-time drivers were forced to work such long hours in order to earn a proper income.

“Our union strongly believes that taxi drivers should not have to work that long.

“They should be able to make a reasonable living from a 40-hour week,” said Mr Kearns.

He blamed the Government’s original decision to deregulate the industry for the problem of part-time drivers “cherry-picking” the busiest periods for operating a taxi service.

Such a situation had forced full-time drivers into working longer hours, Mr Kearns said.

He claimed the manner in which the taxi industry had been deregulated had resulted in Dublin having three times the number of drivers compared to the European average.

Dublin has around 11,000 licensed plate-holders, even though the NTDU believes 4,000 drivers with an integrated communication system could provide a quality service to meet demand for taxis.

Mr Kearns said members of the NTDU had no problem with people with other part-time jobs supplementing their income by having a taxi licence.