Source: BBC News
A crackdown on gangsters muscling in on the taxi trade has been announced by the Scottish Government.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said Holyrood would be setting up a taskforce with police and councils to tackle the issue.
He said the government would not allow “hard-working cabbies” to be “driven off the road by crooks and gangsters”.
New legislation will see taxi booking offices having to obtain licences for the first time.
Police checks of premises and records are also being introduced.
Illegal activities
Mr MacAskill said: “Tackling serious organised crime is one of the Scottish Government’s top priorities.
“Where it infiltrates legitimate business, like the taxi and private hire trade, we are determined to take action.
“We won’t allow hard-working cabbies, who borrow from the bank to mortgage their home to buy a cab and make a living, to be driven off the road by crooks and gangsters.”
He said the serious crime taskforce planned to “send a clear message to organised criminals that there is no room in this industry for those who want to use taxi and private hire car firms as a front for illegal activities”.
The minister was speaking after meeting Insp Frank Smith, of Lothian and Borders police, the capital’s newly-appointed taxi examination inspector, and Derek Bridgeford of the Scottish Taxi Federation.
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