The Executive will consider a proposal to amend lockdown curfew regulations to enable taxi companies to continue to operate after 8pm when it next meets, West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said on Tuesday.

in the meantime there will no enforcement action taken against taxi drivers who continue to accept fares during the curfew period of 8pm to 6am. 

“I have contacted senior police about the need for the essential services these drivers have provided for our community throughout this emergency," said the Sinn Féin man. "The PSNI told me it will move today to provide clarity to the drivers in recognition of the essential service provided by local taxis and there will be no enforcement action until further clarity is given."

On Sunday evening, Peter Pan taxis in West Belfast had reacted angrily after its drivers were told not to operate during the lockdown curfew. 

In a Facebook post on Sunday evening (27 December), the second night of the 8pm-6am curfew, the depot spokesperson said "The police have closed us down for the night as they have classed our service as 'non-essential'. Despite being available to bring out frontline workers from A to B, they have deemed us not fit to work during the curfew. We will be in contact with local political parties...and will update you further. We would like to apologise for this although it is completely out of our control."

In a further post on Monday morning, Peter Pan taxis said the police had acted unlawfully by forcing its drivers off the road.

"Despite last night's closure, Peter Pan Taxis remain open today and WILL DO SO throughout the rest of this week’s curfew," the company posted on Facebook.


"Last night was a wrong and unlawful act and we have worked to ensure this will not happen again not just to us, but our fellow companies across the city. Throughout this pandemic, we continuously brought our frontline workers to and from their workplace and we will continue to do this."

SDLP North Belfast representative Paul McCusker said he had encountered a similar situation in the north of the city where a local depot had been instructed to send its drivers home as they were deemed not to be an essential service.

"This is incorrect," he said. "I've spoken to senior police to confirm that taxi services are an essential service who provide support to the community to transport nurses, carers and the general public to access healthcare, food etc."

However, police sources said only taxi firms with contracts to ferry hospital workers to and from work were being viewed as an essential service. "The curfew applies to the transport sector the same way as it applies to everyone else," said a PSNI source. "If we are serious about clamping down on potential super-spreader parties over the New Year period than we have to stop taxi services. Our position remains the same and if we stop taxis which are not carrying health workers, we will be directing everyone to return home. This is not a game of cat-and-mouse and we advise everyone to protect healthcare workers by staying at home."

However, Paul Maskey defended the right of taxi drivers to continue to operate. 

“These depots have played a key role, often at great risk to themselves throughout the pandemic, providing a vital service driving health, social care and other essential workers to work and getting them home again," he said. Clarity on the issue from the PSNI would, he added, "go a long way to ensure that essential workers can continue to get to and from work over the next six weeks of restriction".