Saturday, September 19, 2009

SNP Justice Minister announces joint taskforce to investigate taxi trade



















Dear All

We have seen Star Wars, seen Bra Wars and now we see Taxi wars hit the press.

And not before time either.

The Scottish Government is to have a crackdown on gangsters muscling in on the taxi trade.

This problem has been on-going for a considerable time as gangsters look for ways to launder money from drugs and prostitution.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has announced that Holyrood would be setting up a taskforce with police and councils to tackle this issue.

The Taskforce should have forensic accountants on board to provide advice on how to trace money.

However the Justice Sectretary has pledged that he would not allow "hard-working cabbies" to be "driven off the road by crooks and gangsters".

New legislation in the pipeline will see taxi booking offices having to obtain licences for the first time, so that these companies can be properly monitored for the benefit of the public.

By putting in place these new measures it should send the message that the taxi and private hire trade is off limits.

Slowly but surely the SNP Government is putting in place the legislation that has sorely been needed for a long time.

And that can only be seen as a positive step forward.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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