The tension between standard taxi drivers and the VTCs (Uber) is never far from the surface and last Thursday it manifested itself.
It was between 20.00h and 21.00h when supposed fisticuffs erupted in one of Granada Airport’s public toilets, right next to the Policia Nacional post.
According to the Guardia, they were tipped off about the scuffle by their counterparts concerning a man who had been supposedly beaten up and said he needed A&E. When the Guardia Civil officers arrived, there was only the victim still around.
“We’re waiting for the victim to make a complaint to the Policía Nacional because he had said that he was going to wait until he had calmed down,” explained the Guardia Civil.
The victim was a VTC driver, whose name he wishes to remain a secret explained, “I had done an airport run to pick up two young North Americans from the Plaza de Gracia. I had eaten something that didn’t agree with me and after I had dropped them off I went to the toilets in the airport.”
He went on to say that he was approached by two men who told him to switch off his Uber application and literally pushed and shoved him out of the toilets. He saw the police post and went towards it but they followed him and continued with their threats.
“At that moment I got my mobile out but dropped it and they started stamping on it so I tried to stop them and ended up on the floor, too, where they kicked me” he said.
The version of the taxi drivers is different, however. Eloy Fernández, who is the Chairman of the Granada-Jaén Airport Taxi Drivers Association explained, “We know this person only too well. He turns up and does whatever he likes.”
He pointed out that VTC drivers have an area assigned where they pick up and drop off passengers, “But this gentleman always turns up, taking the P***, doing whatever pleases him,” adding, “his latest ‘trick is to park his Uber vehicle in the taxi rank with his ride-request app running whilst he goes into the toilets and waits for another call.” This, the chairman points out, is because he should wait at least 300 metres from the airport.
“So on Thursday, he had already been half an hour in the toilet and some colleagues (taxi drivers) told him to hop it and turn his Uber app off. He came of shouting his head off and things soon started to heat up. In a struggle he threw himself on to the floor, rolled over a couple of times and then shouted for an ambulance,” continued the Chairman with the explanation, concluding, “so in the end there was no fight, just shouting and the uber driver just put on a show.”
(News: Granada, Airport, Granada, Andalucia)