Cabbies threaten to close airport access over demands

FAMAGUSTA district taxi drivers are threatening to block access to the island’s airports, ports and main traffic arteries if the government fails to satisfy their demands.

Demands include an increase in bus fares, to increase the drivers’ clientele.

The professional drivers made their demands felt during a planned protest yesterday that saw traffic jams build up on the highway and at the entrance to Nicosia.

The demo started at around 10am at the highway’s Ayia Napa exit, by Olympic Lagoon Hotel. On entering Nicosia the cabbies parked along the highway, reducing traffic to one lane.

A spokesman for the drivers said they wanted the problems they were facing to be heard. Arriving at the communications ministry, they gave the government an ultimatum, saying that if they didn’t start discussions to resolve the sector’s problems within a week, they would take their taxis and cut off airports, ports and all the main traffic arteries.

The ultimatum came in the form of a memo, which was handed over to a ministry official, as Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis was on an official trip to Luxembourg.

Marcoullis, who arrives back today, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: “I will look at the memo tomorrow morning and see how to take it from there.”

The taxi drivers are demanding an increase in bus fares saying the recent operation of the new and much-anticipated public transport system with more buses and cheap fares had brought great damage to their business. They are also demanding a reduction in bus routes.

Furthermore, the cabbies called for generous incentives to encourage voluntary retirement for taxi drviers as there are too many operating at the moment, exacerbating the problems.

The Famagusta drivers were joined by more from other districts, who wished to show their support, to hold an otherwise peaceful demonstration outside the ministry.

Tempers flared at times, mainly as the drivers quarrelled among themselves. But after a few hours, they departed peacefully.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.