Taxi drivers give tourists a taxing time

Travellers and holidaymakers heading to Italy are being warned to expect disruption as an on-going dispute between the Italian government and the taxi drivers' unions is predicted to continue indefinitely.

Taxi drivers across Italy initially went on strike yesterday, with hundreds of drivers refusing to pick up passengers at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome and driving at reduced speeds to disrupt the flow of traffic into and out of the city.

Similar strikes, in protest at Prime Minister Romano Prodi's plans to liberalise certain industries and deregulate taxi licenses, affected airports in Genoa, Turin and Naples, leaving travellers stranded.

At Milan's Linate airport 300 taxi drivers staged a protest, as Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was due on his way to a stock market conference, ANSA news agency reported.

According to Reuters, Ermanno Simiani, president of the CAT taxi drivers' union in Bologna, stated: "There will be a national strike on July 11th, but until then taxi drivers in all cities will move as they see fit to express their anger."

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