The arrival of the application Uber in Spain continues to raise blisters. A tool designed to request private transportation from your mobile phone and that could mean a saving in the journey and a whole comfort for the user. However, the taxi sector sees it as a threat and, after the passivity of the Government to take action on the matter, it has announced a day of strike to protest against this application and service that does not respect current legislation.
The strike has been called for the next day June 11 starting at 6:00 in the morning, and it would continue until the same time on June 12Twenty-four hour strike of the transport service that in Madrid has been promoted by the Asociación Gremial de Auto Taxi and the Professional Taxi Federation However, the strike day will also coincide with the demonstrations throughout Spain called by other many taxi driver associations such as Fedetaxi, Un alt, CTE and Uniatramc, so it is expected that it will be a national strike day and not only in the capital.
The complaints from this sector are clear, and that is that they claim to be tired of the lack of action on the part of the Government to defend both the guide and the legality of the transportation system.Thus, they support their position in the idea that the transportation of people without a license is a labor and fiscal fraud And it is that it not only violates the regulations that require having a authorized license and vehicle for the transport of people, but it is also a practice illegal when carried out in black, without the drivers of the service having registered registration as self-employed or paying VAT and others taxes Issues that would result in illegality.
Thus, the Ministry of Public Works has recently made it known that the practices of the application Uber and other services such as BlaBlaCar incur a very serious fault , which would entail a fine of between 400 and 600 euros for users, and between 4,000 and 6,000 euros (up to 18,000 euros if the offense is repeated) for the companies that carry them out.However, this notice seems to be of little use to the taxi drivers who have called the strike, and also to the Uber service, which continues to prepare its implementation in Spanish territory .
For its part, Uber believes that the position of taxi drivers is “enormously ironic” for trying to defend a interested position by always moving in a protected context In addition, as stated by the Head of Uber for Western and Northern Europe, with all this situation it is the consumer who loses out They claim to be open to dialogue in order to adapt and seek an innovative and flexible future for the transport sector.
Despite all these issues, and although the activity of Uber or BlaBlaCar is branded as illegal, there would be certain situations that would allow the survival of these services in Spain.And it is that, in the case of BlaBlaCar, where two or more users agree to share vehicle and expenses , there is no such thing as business So it could be a situation where several people can plan a trip together and save costs Something different is the case of Uber, which began its journey as an application of luxury transportation, and which now offers services of private transportation for all budgets through an application . In this case, drivers, professional or not, could avoid paying taxes and fees set by the Law on the Management of Land Transport. Hence the application of fines.
