site.btaTaxi Drivers to Stage National Protest on November 20 due to Increase in Third Party Liability Insurance

Taxi drivers will go on a national protest on November 20 due to the increase in the price of the insurance premium for the mandatory third party liability insurance by taxi insurers, said Wednesday Kiril Rizov, honorary president of the Taxi Union not-for-profit association, at a press conference at the National Press Club of BTA in Sofia.

"There will be a protest in every populated settlement where there are taxi cars. If there is no solution to the problem in the next two weeks, taxi drivers will protest on November 20," Rizov explained. 

The price increase will affect the end user, said representatives of the taxi industry, stressing that the insurance price increase is from over 50% to 1100%. The taxi drivers who will participate in the national taxi protest do not accept an increase in the targeted premium  greater than 50% because it cannot be justified.

The Commission on Protection of Competition and the Commission for Consumer Protection have not begun to establish what necessitated the simultaneous and drastic increase of the premium by the insurers, the organizers of the protest indicated. The Financial Supervision Commission has not yet checked the aggregated data from the Traffic Police on traffic accidents caused by the fault of taxi cars and in percentage terms compared to other cars, the organizers added.