Sir, - Your Editorial "Taxi Break" (November 5th) reminded me of an experience at Dublin Airport recently. After I had waited in the queue for 15 minutes, "my" taxi arrived: an unwashed, blue (I think) minibus. As I didn't particularly wish to arrive at my meeting in a minibus, I hesitated to see if others behind me in the queue might actually want to travel as a group in that vehicle. Its driver (one of the persecuted species of Dublin taxi driver) didn't appreciate my hesitation and told me to "get in or get f---ing out". A tourist unfamiliar with our native tongue might take this to be Irish for "Welcome to Dublin".
A visitor arriving at any German airport is greeted by lines of beige (and as such easily identifiable) taxis, mostly Mercedes, and certainly all clean. Because there are no formal restrictions on the number of taxis in operation, most taxi-owners have an active interest in providing a good, relatively inexpensive means of transport. Deregulating the business in Dublin could only serve to teach plate-holders that the paying customer is indeed a customer, and not merely a necessary evil. - Yours, etc.,
Brian Boyd,
Hurup,
Germany.