A SPANISH taxi driver has been hit with Gibraltar’s first-ever fine for working on the Rock without a licence.
Civilian Transport Inspectors intercepted him cruising down Devil’s Tower Road on Tuesday, July 21 – one of the first stretches of road drivers reach after crossing the old frontier.
He was hit with an on-the-spot charge of £300 (€352) and quickly escorted back across the border to Spain.
But he wasn’t the first Spanish taxi driver to try their luck.
Hours after the border fence came down on July 15, a taxi driver from Alhaurin el Grande near Malaga was reported for entering Gibraltar and working without a licence.
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He made it all the way into the centre of town looking for customers when a pair of local taxi drivers managed to box him in and call the police. They described it as the second such incident that day.
It was only the following day, July 16, that the Gibraltar government gave Transport Inspectors the formal legal power to stop Spanish taxis at the border, issue fines and work with other agencies to impound or tow vehicles off the Rock.
The RGP and Transport Inspectors have been stationed at the border ever since the border fell, turning Spanish taxis away and telling drivers to head back into Spain.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has admitted his government was slow to warn drivers the open border does not apply to their trade.
“One of the things we didn’t do on Wednesday, in the middle of the euphoria of taking down the border gates, was put up a very clear traffic sign,” he told GBC’s Viewpoint programme.
A new sign has now been ordered for the old crossing, warning that taxis and other public transport services cannot work in Gibraltar without authorisation, and neither can ride-hailing apps Uber and Bolt.
Environment Minister John Cortes is also writing to mayors across the Campo de Gibraltar and the Junta to remind them that the treaty’s terms on passenger transport have not changed.
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The Gibraltar government is contacting taxi firms and both apps directly with the same message.
Gibraltar joined the Schengen area on July 15, meaning people and private cars can now cross the old frontier freely.
The treaty does not cover cross-frontier commercial services, though, so a Spanish taxi is treated exactly as before.
It can drive into Gibraltar as a private vehicle, but cannot legally pick up paying passengers there without a Road Service Licence, the permit required of every taxi working in the territory.
The offence itself was operating what the law calls a public service vehicle, meaning any vehicle used to carry fare-paying passengers commercially, without that licence.
Breaking the rules can also mean a vehicle being immobilised or towed off the Rock.
The Gibraltar Taxi Association has been pushing the Government for guarantees to protect its members’ livelihoods since the treaty was signed, and has already secured a promise of tighter checks at the crossing points.
The Government says it is also considering increasing the level of the £300 fine.
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