Taxi compo cases going to EU

THE families of taxi drivers have taken their case for compensation to the European Parliament.

Their case will be heard today in Brussels with five members of FAIR, the organisation representing wives, children and widows of taxi drivers, giving evidence.

The overnight deregulation of taxis in November 2000 has put many of them in danger of losing their homes while others are suffering major hardship, according to Cathy Darling, chairperson of FAIR.

Cathy's husband, Terry, was refused a licence for a wheelchair-accessible taxi by the Government.

So he borrowed about 90,000 to buy a taxi plate on the open market.

Within months, the Government decided to remove all restrictions on taxi plates.

This caused the price of a licence to fall to just over 6,000 overnight.

The number of taxis on the streets of Dublin has tripled in less than two years.

This has eroded the earning capacity of the drivers, Cathy said.

As a result, her husband has had to get a second job during the day and drives his taxi at night in an effort to pay off the loan.

"We have another 12 years of this in front of us and we will have nothing at the end of it as the licence plate is now worth nothing because of deregulation," Cathy said.

"Trying to keep down two jobs is taking an awful toll on the family and on Terry and our story is typical of so many other families."

The group will present similar scenarios to the Petitions Committee, which hears complaints from EU citizens and gives an opinion on them.

These findings are not binding.

But vice-chairperson of the committee, Dublin MEP Proinsias de Rossa said the Irish Government has always taken note of their decisions.

Committee spokesperson David Lowe says members of the European Parliament are deeply concerned at the impact of deregulation.

They have agreed to investigate the matter.

They are doing so on the basis that the overnight deregulation could be against the EU's fair competition policy.

There are now more than twice as many taxis per person in Dublin as the European average according to the

latest study.