Announcement of the Association of Car Owners – Taxis of Rhodes

2023-05-04 18:56:32

The following press release was issued by the Association of Car Owners – Taxis of Rhodes:

“CoolRhodes representatives are not just persistent liars but dangerous.

Publications of sensationalism and misleading public opinion will not help anywhere. As much as the meters of the genre, like your legal representative, Mr. Michopoulos, try to angelize and promote the image of your company as innovative and beneficial for the local community and tourism, unfortunately you do not convince us. You do not convince us not because it is in our interest, but because we are thinking people and we ask ourselves questions that expose your claims. Your arguments, such as offering to the local community, better services to tourists visiting the island, etc. , are all broken down below. As for the legality of the process of setting up your company, no one ever doubted, after all, many opened legitimate companies in one night, did their thing and then disappeared, the examples around us are many and everyday.

You declare that:

· Our companies are legally licensed by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Tourism. – We don’t doubt it. You may even have the permits. So publish the permissions. Mainly this intermediation of Nations SA as well as UBER whose platform you use. No matter how many licenses you get, they won’t stop your illegal WAY of operating.

· The minimum rent for our services is thirty six (36) euros. – We have a customer screenshot where you mention an estimated price of €22-30. We can make it public soon.

· The minimum travel time is thirty minutes (30) minutes. – The truth is that we did not notice any illegality regarding this provision of the law. Of course, it was April and the demand for routes is still low. But here, we don’t like something about your contribution to the local community. Answer us if you need to transport an elderly woman from the hospital to a district of Rhodes, as we do every day, you will walk her for half an hour until you reach her home. Then, we are very afraid that because the girls like the ride and the conversation in the car they will prefer you. But we forgot, the old lady can’t pay with her 36 euro card so you will never transfer her. Do you christen your transaction with the tourist, who is also your client abroad, a social project, when you come to our island to take them even on vacation?

· Our cars start from the parking lots of our companies. – Tell us when you bought or leased the public parking lot next to our square in Faliraki? Tell us what happened to your car parked for an hour in the area of ​​Evangelismos in the public parking lot? Tell us why you had the cars parked in Nea Marina and when they sent the police you left? If you had a space rental agreement with Nea Marina, because as soon as the management of Nea Marina sent the police, you packed up in five minutes and disappeared. We can prove everything we mention.

· At the end of each route, the statutory tax documents are issued immediately, sent to the customer and uploaded to MyData. – We have a reservation from a domestic customer who uses your application abroad and made a reservation out of curiosity without ever showing up. The debit to his bank account was done normally by Nations SA but he never received a Proof of Service. Cases of companies involved in financial scandals, we have seen a lot, so we do not fall from the clouds. If you forgot to issue the document we will send you the extrait of the customer’s movement to issue it, maybe AADE will forgive you for this small offense. Of course, if this has happened with an additional three customers, then they should suspend your operation. But you said you operate legally so it is impossible for them to find anything.

· All routes are posted in the electronic register of the Ministry of Transport. – We challenge you to make public the contracts you have posted on the platform so far and we will donate the value of the contracts you have posted to any charity you suggest.

· Our drivers meet all the legal qualifications for the position of driver. – Outside the office of the traffic commander, two foreign drivers admitted to you in front of three members of the Board of Directors of our Association that they do not have language degrees. Do they also have a high school diploma or equivalent from their country?

· Our operating period starts on 01/04 and ends on 31/10 of each year as the legislative framework defines. – So you admit what we said above. That you came to our island to serve your customers from abroad, to take their money back abroad and to destroy us, not caring about the local community and whether it will be served during the winter months.

You characterized us as criminals, a gang – a criminal organization, while we are people who are family members with a lawful life. In our classes we have young and educated children who did not find the opportunity to utilize their professional virtues elsewhere and ended up driving their father’s taxi. You stated that the events in Venice reminded you of the events in Mykonos. Let us remind you that from Mykonos you started to be active, you simply are not involved in arbitrary construction but in illegal transportation.

Playing the media and misleading public opinion will not benefit you. Answer all of the above with arguments.”