Madrid Taxi Strike
Taxi-drivers in Madrid called off their indefinite strike yesterday after 16 days during which they obtained no concessions from the regional government.
Madrid’s refusal to accept drivers’ demands came after ride-hailing companies Uber and Cabify said last week they were suspending their services in Barcelona in response to the imposition of limits on how they operate in the city.
Union representatives in Madrid said the strike had demonstrated the unity and power of the drivers, which would help them continue the fight for their demands.
The city’s taxi drivers started the protests on Jan. 20 against the private services, which offer rides that often undercut taxi prices and can be hailed via the internet rather than on the street.
Kidnap Trial
A GROUP campaigning to find a Latvian woman last seen in Marbella in 2014 has announced a date has been set for the trial of those accused of kidnapping her.
The organisation .. Find Agnese Klavina said British men Westley Capper and Craig Porter would be tried at Malaga Provincial Court from Monday March 18.
Prosecutors announced they would seek 12 year jail sentences for Capper, 40, and Porter, 36, if they are found guilty. They are accused of unlawful detention in connection with the disappearance of Agnese Klavina in the Puerto Banus area of Marbella.
Klavina, aged 30 at the time, was last seen leaving a Marbella nightclub on September 6 2014.
CCTV footage showed two people bungling her into a car at around 6am. She has not been seen since.
Capper and Porter were both arrested and charged in connection with Klavina’s disappearance following an 18-month investigation. Both men deny the charges.
Investigators believe Klavina may now be dead. Her body has never been found. The case continues.
Gibraltar
A tiny Royal Navy ship warned off a 300ft Spanish patrol boat after a two-hour stand-off when the larger vessel gatecrashed a training drill near Gibraltar yesterday.
The 50ft HMS Sabre was undergoing an exercise involving ‘high speed manoeuvring and blank firing’ when the Spanish Tornado sailed nearby.
The vessel, which had sailed from Ceuta stayed in territorial waters for two hours before it was ‘politely requested’ to leave by the captain of the HMS Sabre.
The Spanish National Anthem could be heard over maritime communications Channel 16 by radio operators at the Royal Navy base in Gibraltar as the Tornado loitered nearby.
Gibraltar authorities had asked boats to use that channel to contact the Royal Navy if necessary when warning that the drill would take place on February 5.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night: ‘We can confirm an incursion by the Spanish navy occurred this morning.
Home Demolition
A RETIRED British couple can celebrate after the courts suspended a demolition order on their home in Albox following 16 years of litigation.
Noel and Christine Payne, now in their seventies, had the house built in 2003, with planning permission and an occupation licence.
The couple’s lawyer, Gerardo Vazquez, successfully argued the property could be regularised and demolition was not the only means to execute a sentence nullifying planning permission. .
The AUAN homeowners’ association welcomed the suspension. Association President Maura Hillen said This is a good result for the owners of this house and for the community in general. I hope that it serves as a precedent in similar cases and that the Junta does not appeal it.