Angry. This is how the 'taxi drivers' of La Graciosa are, who affirm that this Monday they have been fined by the Local Police, who have also prevented them from continuing to operate. "The tourism that arrives on the island cannot move because there are no cars. They have us all stopped," affirmed Marcial Guadalupe, one of those affected.
According to Guadalupe, the Local Police have "stopped everyone" the safari-taxis of La Graciosa asking them for "the transport card". A card that they do not have, since although these vehicles have been offering excursions and transfers to tourists arriving to the eighth island for "about 14 or 15 years", their activity is not regulated. In fact, the 'taxi drivers' have been demanding for years that the administrations regulate their situation and grant them the necessary licenses to be able to carry out their activity legally.
"We have been requesting that card since we started and they have not given us anything from the Cabildo. And now they are just asking for the transport card and the ITV, when the Police and the mayor know in advance that this is not yet regulated due to PRUG reasons," says the affected person, who also complains that some of the drivers have been imposed "fines of 1,500 euros" for it.
A police control resulting from three neighborhood complaints
According to Alicia Páez, delegate councilor in La Graciosa, the police control carried out this Monday is motivated by three neighborhood complaints about the lack of ITV in the existing vehicles on the island and has not only been carried out on the 'taxi drivers'. "Faced with these complaints, the Local Police cannot look back. They are not only stopping taxi drivers, but everyone. Truck companies, cranes, shovels, supermarkets that have their vans and the residents themselves, who many have their cars," the councilor pointed out.
Regarding the ITV, the Teguise City Council precisely sent a statement this Tuesday demanding the Government of the Canary Islands for an ITV service in La Graciosa "with urgency", given "the imperative need of many vehicle owners to pass the inspection in Caleta de Sebo" and to "avoid the unfair treatment that is being given to the residents of the eighth island, who do not have the possibility of review, but are subject to the pertinent sanction".
"People have to live, eat and work"
According to Alicia Páez, the ITV service was going to move "in November" last to La Graciosa, but finally it was not like that. "They told us that they were going to come, the days they were going to do it and then I received a letter from the Government of the Canary Islands that they were not coming," explained the delegate councilor in the eighth island, who has affirmed that since then she has been "working" so that her residents can have this service.
The problem now, according to Páez, is that "the Contracts Law came into force" and this forces the service "to be put out to tender". "And they say they are coming, but they don't know when because it has to be awarded, but in November the Contracts Law was not there, which is when they had to come. And if they had done it, today we would not have this problem that we are having," criticized the councilor, pointing out that "people have to live, eat, and work".
Regarding the regularization of the taxi activity in La Graciosa, Alicia Páez has affirmed that the City Council has been working on an ordinance, which will be taken to plenary soon. "And they will be able to apply for a license and regularize," she assured.
