Bulgarian Taxi Drivers Threaten to Protest

Bulgarian taxi cab drivers might organize a national protest if their demands are not taken into consideration. Photo by BGNES

Bulgarian taxi cab drivers have announced they would start a national protest if the government approves the sharply increased penalties, envisioned in the amendments to the Road Transport Act.

The protest decision has been taken at a national meeting of 24 organizations from the Taxi Cab Drivers Association in the Bulgarian city of Veliko Tarnovo and was announced Sunday by th Chair of the Association, Sava Kolev.

More than 25,000 taxi cab drivers are members of the Association.

According to the drivers, the amendments to the Road Transport Act envisioned fines ranging from BGN 2,000 to BGN 5,000 for minor violations, which was an impossible sum since the individual driver's average earnings was about BGN 2,000 per year.

"It is not normal for a damage in the cash register to cost BGN 3,000," said Dimcho Ivanov, member of the National Federation of Taxi Cab Drivers Unions.

In his words, the difficult working conditions and the legal restrictions resulted in a recently increased number of suicides, heart attacks and strokes, which taxi cab drivers received behind the wheel.

The organizations have sent a declaration to the Bulgarian PM, Boyko Borisov, the Transport Minister, Alexander Tsvetkov, and the Chair of the Parliament, Tsetska Tsacheva, asking that they will take into consideration their demands before voting the bill in the parliament.

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