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Charleroi airport taxi touts at Gare du Midi ordered to stop

21:36 13/09/2017

About 30 taxi drivers who touted for business at the Gare du Midi next to the bus stop for Charleroi airport have been found guilty of unfair competition.

The legal action was brought by coach operators Flibtravel and Léonard, which have a contract with the airport to run the official bus service from Brussels.

The bus firms said drivers would approach passengers heading towards the airport bus and offer a cheaper ride by sharing a taxi with other travellers. The car would not set off until all the seats had been filled.

A Brussels court ruled in favour of the bus operators and has ordered the taxi drivers to stop touting for rides in the vicinity, or face a €1,000-a-day fine.

Comments

Anon2

In any case, any/all competition that would benefit consumers is officially banned in Belgium.

Sep 14, 2017 08:24
Marc Slonik

@ANON2 Fair competition under European countries' laws, unlike in US, is rarely evaluated from the customer/consumer viewpoint.

Sep 14, 2017 09:32
R

while 18 euro for a ticket bought on the bus to do the 45 minute journey from Midi to Charleroi that is legitimate and doesn't deserve investigation.

Sep 14, 2017 18:40
Mikek1300gt

18 Euro for a 45 minute bus journey sounds like an awful lot to me. That's about the same as the bus journey I take at times in the UK, £5.50.

Sep 15, 2017 14:52