Several groups of taxi drivers expel pirate drivers from Barcelona airport

Groups of highly organized taxi drivers are expelling pirate drivers without permission from Barcelona airport who, with tricks, try to take away their customers. They approach them, right there, in the arrivals area of ​​Terminal 1, the taxi drivers, the pirates, at least those who consider themselves that way, with a whistle in their mouths and… “Attention, pirate! beep, beep…”. They’ve been like this for a week now. They exchange insults, threats and complaints all the time. Some take it very badly.

And taxi drivers also warn clueless travelers who want to leave the airport as soon as possible and allow themselves to be deceived by these drivers that they are going to put themselves in the hands of a driver who, in principle, does not have the corresponding permits to transport passengers, that this vehicle does not It’s a real taxi, these people don’t have a meter or anything like that, they will charge whatever they want.

And they also hand out leaflets, taxi drivers, among all those who push their suitcases through the terminals, denouncing that those responsible for the Ministry of the Interior and Aena, the state manager of this infrastructure, do not make enough efforts to stop these supposed intruders that make them unfair competition. These days the airport is overflowing with tourists, as well as the city itself. The temptation is obscene.

“Let’s see,” these taxi drivers detail, with their whistles ready, stationed in front of the arrivals area, “here at the airport you find lifelong pirates. We are talking about individuals who park their car in the parking lot and then go around to offer themselves as taxi drivers to arriving travelers and charge them whatever they want. But it is that this year everything is getting out of hand. some have a VTC license, but still cannot attract customers in any way”. Élite Taxi, the main association of taxi drivers in the Barcelona metropolitan area, and Alberto Álvarez, alias Tito, its leader, organize the shifts to keep the tension going all the time.

“What happens –say other taxi drivers on duty, also very aware of everything– is that during the last year some of these pirates have become very professional. Some have several rental vans with tinted windows and their corresponding drivers. They want to appear professional. So they recruit people, take them to the van and charge them right there, in the parking lot, whatever they want! If they see that they are from the United States, maybe eighty euros to go to Plaza Espanya in Barcelona !”.

“And if they get caught, well, it’s nothing more than an administrative fault…”. “Yes, for them to give them a real fine and have their vehicle immobilized, they have to catch them starting the car, with the customers seated, and then the passenger says that he has been captured, and also that… it is very difficult! They can actually do whatever they want.” “In addition, since nobody told them anything until now, since they felt that they could do whatever they wanted, they would stand right here at the barrier of the arrivals area to bellow if someone wanted a taxi, to make fun of us and everything. , in our face”. “But all that is over now. Now they are going to find out.”

“What we ask of the administrations is that this form of intrusion be considered a minor crime. And also that the Generalitat provide the Mossos d’Esquadra with the necessary resources to tackle it.” “Yes, these days the airport is full of mossos who are very aware of all this, but normally…”. “And that they signal this as God commands, that travelers do not see where the hell they can take a real taxi, that they warn of the presence of pirates through the public address system in the same way that they warn of thieves.”

The taxi drivers dressed in yellow reflective vests walk in groups of three or four, mainly through the arrivals area of ​​Terminal 1 and the accesses to the car park. Terminal 2, much smaller and also glazed, is easier to control. Many tourists think that these taxi drivers are informers from the airport, and they ask them all kinds of questions. The fact is that not a few taxi drivers make good use of their rudimentary knowledge of English, and also of the infrastructure, and they are very diligent. “Right here, until a couple of weeks ago, you easily counted forty or fifty pirates. This week, on the other hand, you barely find half a dozen, depending on the moment. But we cannot lower our guard. The truth is that they are waiting for us to relax. They are not going to give up their business just like that. Some have lived off this for many years.”

The collectors are not only swarming in the arrivals area of ​​Terminal 1. Some of them, to mislead the taxi drivers, are more discreet than ever, and try to take advantage of the fact that many travelers do not notice the discreet sign that indicates where they are. find the taxi waiting area, which many travelers get confused by the infrastructure pushing their carts full of suitcases. What happens that everyone here already knows each other. “Are you going to be following me all the time? Do you want to annoy me or what? Taxi drivers blow their whistles when suspected pirates try to hail a traveler. Meanwhile they just follow them. “What do I think that the taxi drivers are all sons of…! leave me alone, dammit.” The whole and the words, on one side and also on the other, harden as one and the other get lost in the less traveled areas of the airport. This alleged pirate declined to give further explanations.

“We’ve been like this for about a week. If the administrations do not succeed in enforcing their own rules, we will have to lend them a hand”, a taxi driver ironized. “We are close to 200 taxi drivers setting up shifts of between fifteen and thirty to have the two El Prat terminals controlled all day.” “We have set up a super effective system. Instead of staying in the waiting area of ​​taxi drivers waiting for a customer to come our way, we wander around the terminals. When he has to work, a colleague tells us. This way we don’t lose money.” “And so we can continue here, under pressure, until these people decide never to return.”