The Facebook group “Driving Drammen-Lier” has close to 10,000 members.
In the group, you can offer to ride, or ask to be shot, around Drammen and the surrounding area.
The group’s administrator, who goes by the alias Jacob Anderson, has posted a post in the group, where he asks that members pay a fee of five kroner a month, possibly an annual fee of 50 kroner, to be a group member.
If all members pay the fee, the administrator will earn between 500,000-600,000 kroner a year, just to manage the Facebook group.
– I spend a lot of my time following all the posts here in the group and keeping track, Anderson explains in the post.
It was Drammens Tidende who first mentioned the case.
– Greedy
The administrator further writes that he asks for the fee “only to improve the group”.
In the comments section of the post, several are supportive of the fee, but some are also critical of the rate.
– MEASURES: Several group members believe that the fee is a good measure, some others are more in doubt. Photo: Screenshot / Drammens Tidende
–
– Is it a 100 percent position to run this group? With a basis for 500,000 a year, one of the members asks.
– Yes, it actually is, Anderson answers.
The administrator has not responded to TV 2’s inquiries.
To Drammens Tidende Anderson says that he introduced the tax because he “wanted to see how greedy people are”, at the same time he says that the group will soon have a new administrator.
The actual payment post has now been deleted. But if you want to join the group, you must answer the question:
– Are you willing to pay a symbolic membership fee?
Legislation
According to the Commercial Transport Act §4, one must have a permit to run a taxi business, ie to charge for transporting people.
But transporting people without taking payment is not illegal.
– Companion driving groups are basically legal. It is passenger transport to the public for consideration, payment, which triggers the license obligation, says Anett Beatrix Osnes Fause, associate professor at UiT’s Faculty of Law.
However, the lawyer also says that similar buddy driving groups have been brought to justice for the business.
– In previous decisions on the subject, the Supreme Court has looked more closely at the real conditions. I would think that the courts here too will look at the realities and cut through, if the group in reality offers passenger transport for a fee.
– It sounds strange that someone will run this business here over time, without getting paid for it, the lawyer says.
Warns
Director of the Taxi Association, Hanne Skåle Thowsen, says that she is not familiar with the Facebook group “Driving Drammen-Lier”, but that she knows of several similar Facebook groups.
She also says that she knows that some of these groups are used to organize pirate taxi activities.
– It is the police who have the opportunity to control taxis and everyone who drives illegally. It is understandable that the police do not have the resources to control everyone, but we would like to see the problem given more priority, says Skåle Thowsen.
She also says that a car accident can be very expensive for a pirate taxi driver.
– They risk an enormous amount. The person in question may be forced by the insurance company to pay for the damages, if a passenger is injured in an accident. Thus, the driver can be left with several million kroner in debt, says Skåle Thowsen.
Sold for thousands of kroner
Vicente Bergan Santana has previously run the group. He believes that it is not reasonable for Anderson to ask for payment for the administrative job.
– I did not spend many minutes during the day responding to messages in the group. So I believe that there is no valid reason to ask for payment, he says to TV 2.
Santana says that he “knows” that several people took payment when he managed the group, which led to him selling it on for a sum of 10,000 kroner.
– And it was probably sold for twice as much. I sold the group because I received messages from people who had experienced unpleasant trips or who had not received payment from customers. I started the group so that people could get there safely.
–
