Passengers stranded after Rome police impound airport buses
18.05.08
Travellers flying to Rome this weekend may be in for a shock after the buses they were expecting to whisk them to or from the city centre have been impounded by police. Terravision, a British-based company that operates a service from and to Ciampino airport for passengers on low-cost airlines including easyJet, told the Guardian: ‘The whole situation is unbelievable’.
On Tuesday, Rome police, who had already impounded half the company's fleet of 12 buses, took the remaining six. Terravision's marketing director, Yakuta Rajabali, told the newspaper that in some cases, officers had boarded the vehicles, ordering off the passengers and their luggage.
Several hundred passengers with valid tickets were stranded either at Ciampino or in the city centre by the police action, with many missing flights.
Ms Rajabali said the police, who are answerable to the city council, had claimed Terravision, which has run the service since 2002, did not have a valid license. ‘But we have had judgments from justices of the peace and the Rome civil court to say our service is perfectly legal,’ she told the Guardian.
The police struck at the company in a hiatus between the departure of one city administration and the arrival of another. A spokesman for Rome's mayor-elect, Gianni Alemanno, said there was nothing he could do until he took office on Monday. ‘But he intends to call a meeting between representatives of Terravision and the municipal police early next week.’
A spokeswoman for easyJet told the newspaper: ‘We are confident that Terravision will rectify matters and that business will return to normal shortly.’
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