Barcelona taxi 'slow' protest causes 17-kilometre gridlock
Barcelona taxi 'slow' protest causes 17-kilometre gridlock
A TAILBACK of over 17 kilometres built up from Barcelona airport to the city centre and beyond when over 5,000 taxi drivers staged a slow-crawl protest over the council's alleged failure to clamp down on 'pirate' cabbies and cars hired out with a driver.
They say 14,000 families in and around the city live off providing legitimate taxi services and are suffering financially because of professional 'intrusion'.
Cabs started their crocodile crawl at 11.00 yesterday (Monday) and continued throughout the day, leading to 11-kilometre queues along the Ronda de Dalt ringroad and 17-kilometre gridlocks between the junction known as the Nudo de la Trinitat and the Zona Franca district.
Air terminal governing body AENA warned on Twitter ahead of the demonstration of the likelihood of airport taxi services being disrupted, and advised travellers to use public transport, such as the metro which runs straight to the El Prat terminal.
Catalunya-based low-cost airline Vueling also published an alert on Twitter, advising passengers to allow plenty of extra time to get to the airport.
