‘They are like criminals’

Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE leadership of several taxi associations in western Jamaica blasted Monday’s protest by some public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators across the island as they demanded that the Government grant them an amnesty on outstanding traffic tickets issued by the police.

Taxi operators on Monday shut down pockets of the public transport sector, primarily in Kingston, St Andrew, and Clarendon, withdrawing their services in line with lobby, the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS).

That prompted Anthony Lemhard, secretary of the Hopewell Taxi Association in Hanover, to liken the strikers to “criminals”.

Lemhard, whose membership is approximately 160, wants the Government to apply the full weight of the law to make violators pay.

“Come the end of this month, the Government should enforce the full brunt of the law on all public passenger operators, including taxi drivers with tickets, who don’t choose to pay,” he said.

“There is no way we were going to support the indiscipline of persons amassing tickets and don’t want to pay them,” Lemhard declared in an interview with The Gleaner.

Commenting further, Lemhard, whose members operate on the Hopewell to Montego Bay route, said: “They are like the criminals who are getting bail and are going on the road to continue committing various crimes.”

Deon Chance, president of the St James Taxi Association, was also not in agreement with the strike. He claimed that the TODSS leadership did not consult him and other associations on the matter.

“If you get a ticket and you decide not to pay, you should go to court and contest it, because the rule of law must stand,” said Chance.

“Where there is no law and order, anarchy will take place, and we saw that in the actions of some persons who are not even part of the associations,” he added.

The PPV administrator noted that those who had planned the all-island strike did not provide adequate supervision of the operators, resulting in recklessness.

“As the president of the St James Taxi Association, I couldn’t endorse that, and I gave instructions to my members to go out and work,” Chance stated.

Paul Maitland, president of the Westmoreland Taxi Association, said colleagues saw no need to demand an amnesty or to disrupt the transportation sector.

George McKenzie, a taxi operator who plies the Whitehouse to Savanna-la-Mar route in Westmoreland, labelled the protest as unruly.

“Everybody has a responsibility to pay for their ticket when they get one. Why should I hold the travelling public at ransom? And why should I withdraw my service because some unruly and delinquent people decide that they are not paying for their tickets?” he questioned.

Like McKenzie, Charles Powell, head of the Southern Taxi Association, which covers St Elizabeth and a section of Westmoreland, said the protest was ill-conceived and baseless.

Powell said his members could not endorse indiscipline.

“Instead of strike action, I think we should go to the bargaining table with the minister of national security and the minister of transport to have some dialogue before resorting to protest,” Powell suggested.

“You cannot support a man who gets a ticket and refuses to pay, despite having two options to either pay the ticket or challenge it in court and let the court decide.”

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com