Taxi ‘pirate’ battle continues

AIRPORT managing body

AENA, the Balearic Is ‐lands government, taxi drivers and other trans ‐port professionals have joined forces to urge Pal ‐ma Town Hall to take measures to end the on ‐going problem with ‘pi ‐rate’ drivers at Son San Joan airport.

All parties took part in a joint meeting under the banner of the Commis ‐sion on Intrusion in Trans‐port presided by regional Mobility councillor Josep Marí.

Speaking after the meeting, Sr Marí reported that all affected parties agreed that “without the involvement of the Local Police it is impossible to stop the pirates.” cil needs to establish a permanent police station at the airport to solve the problem of unlicensed drivers acting as unofficial taxis at the airport Ar ‐rivals terminal.

The regional councillor also announced the launch of a new inspec ‐tion plan this year be ‐tween April to October to clamp down on the ‘pirates’, with inspectors checking permits on 120

THE Balearic Islands government this week made a surprising announcement that it will auction 50 rafts and 24 engines left behind by immigrants arriving at Cabrera National Park over recent months.

The items have been declared abandoned by the Govern, which is the first step before auctioning them off or destroying them.

The vast majority of the vessels were inter‐cepted by the Guardia Civil as they ap‐proached the Mallorca coast with immigrants on board. Anyone interested in acquiring the rafts can attend the auction that Ports de les Illes Balears will organise in the coming different days, including weekends and bank holi ‐days at different times, in an effort to discour ‐age unlicensed taxi ser ‐vices.

The situation took a turn for the worse this week when taxi drivers called a temporary strike on Monday (May 1) after an argument with an unli‐censed driver outside the airport ended in physical violence.

Raft sale

months. The boats are between five and six metres in length, two of which are inflatable and the other two have inboard engines, but most are said to be beyond repair.

What may be of more use are the 24 out‐board motors located next to the boats, which include Yamaha, Suzuki, Tohatsu and Everunde 40 and 25 horsepower models.

The accumulation of these boats has be‐come a serious problem at the Parque Na‐cional de Cabrera.