Update: Taxi demo causes road chaos

TAXI drivers have blockaded large towns and cities across France and closed many roads with go-slow protests, including the Périphérique in Paris.

Airports, railway stations and main roundabouts have been targeted to halt traffic as taxi drivers protest about illegal competition from ordinary drivers using the UberPop app to pick up fare-paying passengers.

Anyone going to a main airport should forget about driving and parking there, with the three terminals blocked at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle as well as the access to Paris Orly, while Nice is reachable only by walking - with police reporting they had seized a molotov cocktail in one taxi.

This “unlimited” strike by taxi drivers is joined by rail workers who have called a one-day stoppage. Long-distance trains are little affected, although only one Intercité in three is running on the Paris-Orléans-Tours route.

Across the country eight out of 10 TER local trains are running but strikes are affecting some of these lines at very local level and passengers should check the TER website. http://www.ter.sncf.com

The taxi situation is changing by the minute and across the country with roads closing and then being reopened by police although Charles-de-Gaulle has been blockaded since early this morning.

A leading taxi union UNT published a map of where major demonstrations were being held – and included demos in Spain, in Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia.

#UberOff - La carte des rassemblements #taxis du 25 juin https://t.co/x5A7A22ONh— U N T (@UNT_Officiel) June 24, 2015

On the Périphérique, taxi drivers are getting together for “operation escargot” go-slows that briefly jam up the ring-road in either direction until cleared by police.

At Porte Maillot and Porte d'Auteuil taxi drivers were seen throwing boulders, dustbins and palettes on to traffic below and CRS riot police moved in to stop taxis heading in convoy towards the Place de l’Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe.

Air France is warning its passengers to give themselves plenty of time to get to airports, especially Charles-de-Gaulle.

Roads organisation Bison Futé warned that there were 200km of traffic jams across the country at one point in the morning. The situation has eased but it is still telling drivers to avoid Roissy and Orly as well as the nearby A1 and A6 motorways, plus the Gare de Lyon, Nord and Montparnasse.

Other large cities are also affected with Marseille taxi drivers forcing open the péage at the Prado-Carénage tunnel, which is now closed in both directions.

Taxis: le périphérique parisien est bloqué dans les deux sens à Porte-Maillot ce matin http://t.co/gzuBcyrdhY pic.twitter.com/xpL56tLRcM— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 25, 2015

UberPop has been illegal in France since January 1 but is still being used by many despite heavy fines of up to €15,000 and loss of their licence.

Parent company Uber claims 400,000 users in France and says drivers must become auto-entrepreneurs if they do more than €7,500 of business a year. It says there are not enough taxi drivers willing to work the hours needed for passenger demand.

Taxi drivers claim the Uber drivers do not have insurance, pay no social charges and have had no driver training – while they are fully covered and must pay an average of €250,000 for their licence.

This morning Les Taxis Bleus boss Yann Ricordel told LCI news site that it was “time to end the anarchy and start to respect the laws of the Republic”. He said he had warned his drivers not to get involved in violence, but said Uber was engaged in guerrilla legal tactics to continue to operate and drive legal taxi drivers out of business.

Vtc porte maillot pic.twitter.com/x7rddhaCy3— Paristaxis95 (@paristaxis95) June 25, 2015

Et hop 1 de moins .... pic.twitter.com/ReOMy30t16— Paristaxis95 (@paristaxis95) June 23, 2015