DONEGAL taxi drivers are threatening to leave the HSE without emergency back-up.
The Irish Drivers Association spokesman in Donegal says they have been inundated with calls in relation to the new registration for taxi drivers.
In mid Jan every taxi driver in the county had been contacted by the National Transport Association that they must register by Jan 31 or face a €40 on the spot fine.
“Every driver must phone the NTA at the start of every shift but this has been taking up to 45 mins to place the call and costing drivers in some cases €6 for the call,” said Mr Doherty.
“The NTA has furnished each driver with a website that they can login to to register. But the website dosent work. I’ve meet with different drivers over the weekend and they have showed me that they can’t get past the login page. They are then redirected to the helpline which is costing upto €6 for every call. This means it’s going to cost every driver €6 per shift.
“This leaves Drivers that they may no longer be in a position to take an emergency call from hospitals in some cases getting a Gardai escort to the border to collect specialist doctors from Airports to attend a bad road traffic accident or in some case where doctors are involved with organ Donar Removal and transport.
“Drivers have stated that they are been discriminated against as one section of the community and stated that they have been bullied into handing over very personal details like DOB. Address phone number. SPSV number PSV badge Number.
“And worst of all one driver said that PRSI numbers were being passed around like snuff at a wake. He explained to me that he was of the understanding that his PRSI number was covered under the Data protection act due to the recent duplicating scandal of PRSI numbers.
“The driver explained to me now his number will be distributed between the NTA. Revenue and the Taxi regulator who will have this in paper form on the roadside doing roadside checks he said who knows now where his details will end up as it’s not the first time records have been lost or stolen by departments.
“This seems to have been hashed through by the different departments without any consultation with Taxi operators or indeed to the individuals.”