St Thomas cabbies staying off the job

As the second day of protests in eastern St Thomas came to a close yesterday, taxi operators said they were no closer to resuming their services.
On Monday, to protest the state of the roads in the parish, disgruntled residents mounted several roadblocks as taxi operators withdrew their services. These demonstrations coincided with the start of the new academic year. Kirk Brown, president of the St Thomas Taxi Associations, said the road is in a deplorable condition. He said that taxi men withdrew their service two weeks ago because of the bad road, but the residents have taken up the protests, even burning tires in the road.
“It was an ongoing situation leading up to now and now the residents take to the streets and it's really a chaos now. So the police and the fire department clear the road, a so the people dem block di road,” he said. Brown told THE STAR that the protests began in Lyssons, but have since spread to Leith Hall, Port Morant and other areas. The chief concern for the taxi operators is the money they have to use to repair their vehicles that are damaged while on the job.
“Fifty per cent of the cars are off the road, including my car. The front end mash up. Every month yuh affi spend more than $50,000. Right now me a spend too much. Mi all fraid fi talk because it more than damaged,” he said.
“Now school just start and it’s time for us to make some money. We should be making more. Other parishes are making money, we are losing it. School term start Monday and we nuh make no money. We nuh make nuh money today and mi nuh know how it a go for the rest of the week. Mi nuh know. I don’t know what might happen.”
Brown said taxi operators are prepared to stay off the roads until the thoroughfares are fixed and called for contractors to patch the gaping potholes.
"They need to put some marl or river shingles in the pothole them and the ditches, because you know they have to dig to lay the pipes in the road. They leave some ditches in the road so they need to cover them with marl or shingles," he said. "These are some deep holes. They are damaging the cars, the crank cases and the transmission. Nuff a dem damage the engine because the crank case a lick and sumpn a scrape on the road in these potholes because they are so deep. It cyah continue, a foolishness this. It's just unbearable. You don’t know where to drive. Anywhere you put your wheel is a problem.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent O’Niel Thompson, acting head of the St Thomas police, told THE STAR that at least one arrest has already been made and they are handling the blockades.
“We pulled on our resources in St Thomas and also that of the specialised operations in Kingston. It took a little time but we got it under control from early. Some of the time what happened is when you pull some of the blockades they reblock it but we’ve been able to deal with it,” he said. Thompson said at the time of the interview, all blockades had been cleared.
“We are prepared for any eventuality. The fact that persons have to be out there for long hours. It’s a bit tiresome but other than that we deal with it."