Taxis fail to reach deal with bank 

Taxis fail to reach deal with bank 

A group of more than 100 taxi drivers and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) will meet again for talks later this month after yesterday failing to reach settlement in a case bought under the Ua-arthon taxi project initiated by the Thaksin Shinawatra government.

The Civil Court yesterday called in the two parties for talks on their dispute. On Aug 10, a group of 108 taxi drivers filed a civil suit against the SME Bank for breaching agreements by failing to deliver taxis specified in contracts under the Ua-arthon taxi project.

Initially, the drivers demanded 1.8 million baht in damages each or a total of 194.4 million baht plus annual interest of 7.5%. However, the drivers yesterday proposed the state bank transfer ownership of the vehicles to them and write off all remaining debts owed by each driver under the hire-purchase contracts, as part of the settlement.

The bank's lawyer said he could not accept the offers straight away as the bank's executives must consider it first. The court set Sept 28 for the two sides to negotiate again.

The project, widely known as the 4.5-billion baht Ua-arthong taxi programme, was initiated by the Thaksin Shinawatra government in 2003 to allow taxi drivers to own their own vehicles. The drivers bought the vehicles on hire-purchase contracts without a down-payment and paid 12,000 baht in monthly instalments, with annual interest of 3.5%.

Under the contracts, the SME Bank had to provide Toyota Altis cars that can be powered by both benzene and compressed natural gas. However, the bank instead delivered Izusu vans powered by diesel, which are large vehicles consuming large amounts of fuel.

Sutthisant Kachasenee, one of the 108 taxi drivers, said drivers faced hard times because they had to shoulder high fuel and maintenance costs. Some passengers avoided flagging the large taxis, thinking they would charge a higher fare.

The car park at the Civil Court on Ratchadaphisek Road was filled with more than 100 yellow-green taxis as drivers turned up at the court for yesterday's talks.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)