HGK road transport operators propose measures to improve taxi service

The association's move comes in response to a recently issued recommendation by the UK Foreign Office about a potential risk of sexual assaults in the Croatian taxi service sector, the HGK said in a statement on Wednesday.

Even though it believes that this is an incomplete picture of the sector, which, it says, operates in line with the relevant laws and rules, the association notes that that does not mean that there is no room for improvement.

It therefore proposes a review of the Act on Road Transport in order to introduce stricter background checks for taxi drivers and raise reputation standards, consistent implementation of the current law, establishment of a public register of taxi drivers with information on their vehicles and official rates, the introduction of special taxi registration licences which would be obligatory for vehicles providing taxi services, and the introduction of a code for taxi drivers to set ethical and professional standards and improve the sector's reputation.

"We appreciate the efforts by the UK ministry to protect British nationals but we want to underline that such incidents are an exception, not the rule. That does no mean that there is no room for improving the regulations, raising the quality of services and protecting clients from excessive rates, which happens frequently during the summer season. We also want to raise security standards in our sector to ensure the highest level of security for all our passengers," Petar Dragic of the association of taxi drivers was quoted as saying.