Taxi drivers stage protest in Transport Minister's home village
A round a hundred taxi drivers have staged a protest in the Flemish Brabant village of Dworp. Dworp is the home village of the Flemish Transport Minister Ben Weyts (nationalist) the taxi drivers were protesting against a new bill that if passed by the Flemish Parliament will change the rules governing the taxi industry in our region.
Mr Weyts says that once it becomes law the bill will lead to “more taxis at aa lower price”. However, the taxi companies’ federation GTL and the socialist and Christian transport unions say in a joint statement that the new rules will cause a “bloodbath” in the taxi industry.
They claim that Mr Weyts’ “radical deregulation” will “spell the end for thousands of local small businesses” while at the same time “thousands of taxi drivers will have to put up with precarious working conditions”.
Around 100 taxis drove through the sleepy village "To show the Minister what it will be like if the number of taxis is allowed to grow unrestricted”.
Mr Weyts is not amused by the protest. He told journalists that “I have repeatedly invited the protesters for talks at my office and not at my home. Who could thing that you could positively influence a minister by intimidating him and his family in the place they live?” Mr Weyts said.