GAS station owners across the island are crying out for assistance as taxi drivers increasingly use their premises for parking lots, chasing away customers.

“Many people wanting gas cannot bother with the hassle to come in or leave the station, Eddie Edwards of Total service station in Half-Way-Tree told Auto. “It is a big turn off.”

According to Edwards, the intrusion by taxi operators is costing his establishment some 25 per cent in sales. President of the Jamaica Gasoline Retailers Association (JGRA), Trevor Heaven, added that many other service stations in towns across the island were suffering a similar fate.

One high on the list is the Coore’s Service Station in Spanish Town where he said entering the premises is almost impossible for motorists, because of taxi operators. “This behaviour is driving away customers, as very often the taxi drivers are extremely aggressive,” said Heaven. “It is out of a selfish need for money that they behave in such a fashion. “We would like to see the Transport Authority take a more active role in monitoring the situation,” he added.

Efforts yesterday to contact the Transport Authority were unsuccessful.

However Egerton Newman, national coordinator for the Jamaica Association of Transport Owners and Operators (JATOO) accused some service station owners of initially welcoming the taxi operators as they attracted pedestrian traffic.

“It brought more business into the stations,” Newman asserted. He charged that the situation became unbearable as more taxi operators converged on the service stations over time.

Newman told Auto that members of his association have been instructed not use service stations as a parking lot.

“I have repeatedly told operators not to use gas stations as taxi stands,” he said. “For the umpteenth time I have said that to drivers.”

According to Newman most of the taxi operators using service stations were illegal operators, operating outside regulations of the Transport Authority.

“The whole issue is that illegal operators are taking over,” Newman insisted.

Meanwhile, Edwards, who is a former president of the JGRA, says that the problem at his service station has eased somewhat in recent months with the assistance of the police.

“In my case I have been working with the police for some months. Had it not been so I would have to close the station,” he said.

But even with the presence of the police, the Half-Way-Tree service station is still used as a terminus by taxi operators and their passengers causing untold inconvenience for motorists.

“If it were not like this my volume would increase,” said Edwards.

He added that the proximity of his station to the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre was a huge part of the problem as it proved convenient for pedestrians.

“To a large extent the problem is driven by the customers of the taxi operators as very often they want a central area that is well lit for their safety,” said Heaven.

He argued the police and Transport Authority should offer greater assistance in clearing the service stations.

“We are very dissatisfied with the support we get from the police, notwithstanding the resource problem,” said Heaven.