Girona taxi drivers have reported the presence of people working irregularly in the city and demand the City Council an intervention to stop this activity. The guild claims to have detected about twenty professionals who either do not have permission to operate in Girona or act as alleged pirate taxis.
The main complaint of the sector focuses on drivers with licenses from other municipalities who regularly pick up clients in Girona, despite the fact that regulations only allow this in the locality where the license is held, except for standby services. The guild also maintains that, in some cases, an entrepreneur with a license in Girona makes more vehicles with permits from other municipalities work in the city.
The sector asks for more municipal control
The taxi professionals also warn of a significant number of people who work with private cars as alleged pirate taxis. The complaint goes beyond irregular competition and focuses on compliance with the ordinance. According to Gitaxi, many of these drivers do not carry the mandatory exterior module nor a taximeter.
"Here are the hospitals and most of the places where you have to go to do errands" - Fernando Samitier, president of Gitaxi
Samitier maintains that Girona concentrates numerous displacements and that this makes it an attractive point for those who seek to operate outside the rules. He also reproaches the lack of municipal action.
"They are obliged to enforce the law and they are not doing it. We are very much on top of our own so that they don't do what they shouldn't, because we want them to too" - Fernando Samitier, president of Gitaxi
The president of Gitaxi adds that in other places courses and exams on the city and the municipal ordinance are required, while in Girona, he assures, that is not being applied. In this context, the sector recalls that the price difference between a taxi license from Girona and that of a small town can exceed 100,000 euros, a factor that, in his opinion, fuels these practices.
Reports to Mossos and checks at the airport
When they detect an irregular case, the taxi drivers assure that they notify the Mossos d'Esquadra and file the corresponding complaint. The autonomous police confirm that they are attentive to this problem and that they carry out periodic controls to detect those who do not operate correctly, both in the taxi sector and among VTCs.
Coinciding with Holy Week, the Mossos have intensified surveillance at Girona airport, considered an especially sensitive point because there many drivers who work irregularly try to attract clients. In that facility, only taxis from Vilobí d'Onyar can wait at the taxi stand, since the aerodrome is located within the municipal district of this town.
Any taxi or VTC from outside Vilobí d'Onyar can only pick up a client if the service has been previously contracted. Surveillance focuses, among other issues, on checking that there are no vehicles from outside recurrently passing in front of the terminal to pick up travelers without a reservation.
"Our presence is deterrent, but it also provides security to those who work correctly" - Juli Lloret, sergeant and shift supervisor of Girona
Lloret explains that the agents act when they detect movements that do not fit with a previously contracted service.
"If we see that something doesn't fit us, it's when we act and process the sanction" - Juli Lloret, sergeant and shift chief of Girona
The Mossos specify that this type of control is especially reinforced in summer, especially in coastal municipalities due to the increase in tourism. In Girona, meanwhile, the taxi sector insists that irregular activity has become a persistent problem and demands stable measures to prevent those who do comply with regulations from continuing to compete at a disadvantage.