Scottish Private Hire Association joins pothole protest group to campaign on state of Glasgow roads

The Scottish Private Hire Association (SPHA) have started discussions with the organisers of the pothole protest group, Potholes Make Glasgow. The two action groups are talking about mounting a joint campaign against Glasgow City Council on the state of the city's roads and potholes.

The Potholes Make Glasgow group, which boasts an online membership of over 10,000, held a protest this past weekend in George Square complaining that potholes are wrecking their cars and that the council are failing to compensate for damages caused.

Recently, the SPHA said they had written to the council to inform them that they would be assisting their members through making claims for damages to private hire cars when the damage was caused by the council's negligence in maintaining the road network.

During 2021, the leaders of the SPHA organised two large impact protests in the city centre during the pandemic to highlight the lack of support the private hire and taxi trades were receiving during lockdowns. These protests were a go-slow convoy of private hire cars and taxis and also a George Square vehicle sit-in.

The SPHA and the organisers of the Potholes Make Glasgow action group are now in discussions about working together on a multi-pronged campaign to get the city's roads sorted.

Mr Grice said: "I can confirm discussions have have begun between our association and the protest group called Potholes Make Glasgow. These talks are at an early stage, so we're not able to say what any joint campaign might look like yet, but I imagine a large joint protest between our two memberships is on the cards."