A damaging plan for taxi drivers to strike has been averted by SNP election candidate Dave Thompson with an offer to mediate between drivers and The Highland Council in an increasingly serious dispute about provision of taxi licences.
Members of the Inverness Taxi and Private Hire Association had voted to withdraw their services at a peak time over an imminent weekend in protest at what drivers claim is an overprovision of taxi licences, making it difficult for full time drivers in the city to earn a living wage.
A majority of members of the drivers association had voted to withdraw their services without warning, a step, Mr Thompson feared, would lead to a huge strain on police in the city centre as hundreds of drunken revellers were unable to get home.
When he learned of the plan, Mr Thompson immediately wrote to Alistair Dodds, chief executive of The Highland Council, and the drivers association with an offer to chair mediation talks between the association and the local authority.
"I hope that this will help to avert any such withdrawal of services," Mr Thompson said.
"I have been involved in correspondence between the drivers and The Highland Council since October but I recently became aware of a threat to withdraw services without warning in Inverness city centre at a peak time at a weekend this spring.
"I was alarmed that we could have had a situation where hundreds of people were left unable to get home. This could have placed a huge strain on police in the city centre so I was determined to do what I could to avert this potentially catastrophic strike."
The offer to mediate between drivers and The Highland Council is the latest in a series of interventions going back to October last year made by Mr Thompson since taxi drivers approached him with their concerns that the award of an increasing number of licences had encouraged many new part-time taxi drivers into the market, making it harder for full-time drivers to make a living wage.
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