On the instructions of the regional transport ministry, 937 vehicles in Majorca were checked during the summer. Sixty per cent of these were because of the campaign to stamp out illegal transport providers.
The Guardia Civil and local police forces combined in looking for vehicles being used for "pirate" transport operations transferring tourists from the airport. The remaining 40% of the checks were on vehicles operated by authorised transport providers. The outcome was that 37 proceedings were started, not all of them against pirate operations.
Presenting this information, regional transport minister Marc Pons admitted that the number of infringements was not high. However, he compared the situation in Majorca with that in Ibiza, where there were 550 checks and 73 proceedings. "The problem lies in Ibiza," he noted.
Fines will total some 300,000 euros, and despite (or perhaps because of) the low number of proceedings in Majorca, the ministry doesn't intend letting up in tackling illegal transport providers. New methods of investigation are to be adopted next year, with websites being studied in order to identify unauthorised operators, who can sometimes be difficult to prosecute because they claim they are carrying friends and aren't charging anything.
Next summer, video surveillance will be fully operational at Palma airport, having been trialled this summer. Certain adjustments have been made to the camera system, which Pons said will be a means of fighting illegal transport.
The action against pirates was launched following demands from legitimate operators, collaboration with whom, Pons stressed, was "very positive". Taxi drivers in particular have for years been calling for measures to end unfair competition in the movement of tourists to and from the airport.