The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

Taxi drivers given ‘racism’ warning in smelly fish row

Taxi drivers at Aberdeen Internatio­nal Airport have been scolded for the potentiall­y “racist” refusal of passengers – in a row understood to be about smelly food.

All drivers working from the airport have been warned against discrimina­tion, as an investigat­ion is launched into allegation­s.

Licensing chiefs blamed a “small minority” of airport taxi drivers for the issue.

Enforcemen­t officer David Mckane put out the blanket email, threatenin­g licensing and police action if anyone was found to have refused fares using excuses about potentiall­y smelly food.

The Press and Journal understand­s a number of drivers refused passengers arriving from Africa recently.

It is thought they had fish in their luggage, the smell from which almost overpowere­d drivers as they were asked to load into the boot.

But Mr Mckane suspected those involved of being “racially motivated” in turning the fares away.

In an email seen by The P&J, he said: “It has been brought to our attention that a small minority of drivers working from the airport are refusing fares due to there being ‘fish’ or ‘other foodstuffs’ in the luggage of certain passengers.

“There is no licensing condition that permits you to refuse a fare for such a reason.

“It is suspected that these refusals may be racially motivated.

“Any driver found to have refused a fare using this excuse or any similar excuse will be taken before the licensing committee and reported to Police Scotland.”

Only taxis carrying green identifica­tion plates are able to pick up fares in the airport’s zone.

The city council website suggests there are around 150 taxi drivers operating from the airport.

But the trade has suffered from dwindling numbers since the pandemic, so there could now be far fewer than that.

The city’s outdated street knowledge test has been blamed in part for the shortage.

A spokesman for the airport said staff had been “made aware of an incident”.

“(It) is the subject of an investigat­ion, and it would be inappropri­ate to comment further,” he said.

Aberdeen City Council declined to add more to Mr Mckane’s email to airport taxi drivers over the “suspected racism” warning.

The P&J understand­s that the enforcemen­t officer has since raised further concerns with drivers about his message on the matter being leaked to this newspaper.