Hackney drivers yesterday demanded a change in the law to allow them to use two-way radios when responding to calls from the public.
A recent High Court decision upholding the ban on hackneys using such radios in taxi-meter areas is to be appealed by the National Hackney Association in the Supreme Court.
The association's chairman, Mr Michael Dwyer, said members were not seeking to take on the functions of taxi-drivers who, unlike hackneys, can be hired on the street by the public. "We're basically asking to be allowed to use modern technology to provide a safe, efficient and cost-effective service to the public," he said.
"If you pull in to someone's driveway you can take a call on your radio about a job that's been booked. Otherwise you're supposed to go back to base even if that's three miles away and there's a customer waiting around the corner. It's a crazy situation," he said following a meeting in Dublin of the association's executive.
The association, which said it had 6,000 members operating in taxi-meter areas in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick and Galway, said all radios used by hackneys were licensed and "type-approved" by the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications.
It said the recent Oscar Faber consultancy report had stated that 85 per cent of Dublin taxis were part of a radio group. The situation was similar in other cities, suggesting that a high percentage of taxis spent most of their working hours carrying out pre-booked private hire contracts.
