That there are pirate cabs that offer their services as soon as you get off a plane in Ibiza is something that everyone knows. This has even been admitted by the director of the island’s airport, Marta Torres. However, she has gone a step further: she has proposed penalizing not only those who pick up passengers illegally, but also those who hire the service.
“We must understand that many times the passenger is aware that he is taking a transport that is not official. We must penalize that,” he said in statements to Radio Ibiza when asked about the issue of pirate cabs. For Torres, those who should penalize both passengers and pirate cab drivers are the Police or the Civil Guard. “I understand that more can be done, but I can’t answer myself. We are an airport manager, we have no competence in land transport or in sanctioning those who commit infractions,” he argued. Torres has not hesitated to admit the presence of these cab drivers without permits: “It is obvious, we have all seen them”. Nor in assenting to the adjective “brazen” to qualify them. “When this infraction is committed, they should be prosecuted. It would be good to transfer the problem to the Guardia Civil and the local police and see what measures they can take,” he added. What is the responsibility of the airport administration? For Torres “it must be understood that this happens at the airport, but the airport cannot sanction those who commit infractions. What we do is to inform and be available to collaborate with the Consell and the Guardia Civil”. In that line, he has said that the airport collaborates to provide information on accredited cab drivers through public address or screens.
Responsibilities and blame
As Joan Marí, a member of the Agrupación de Autotaxis de las Islas Baleares ( CAEB), told La Voz de Ibiza, “users are not to blame”, so they should not be penalized for taking a pirate cab. However, the cab driver agrees with Torres that the responsibility should fall on the Police or the Civil Guard. But that the problem is that it is not clear on which of these bodies. “It should be clarified who has the powers of traffic outside the airport facilities,” he said. “This would go a long way in solving not only the problem of pirate cabs, but also that of traffic, because when it gets stuck there is no one to direct it,” he added.
