Hoteliers have agreed to invest in new radio equipment linking them with taxi dispatch centres in a bid to overcome problems in hiring cabs for guests.

The executive vice president of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, John Harvey, met with taxi drivers and union bosses yesterday to hammer out the difficulties hotels have experienced in ordering cars.

Mr. Harvey complained to Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess a few weeks ago that hoteliers were having problems ordering cars, particularly at night on Thursdays through to Sundays.

They met yesterday morning and agreed the difficulties stemmed mainly from poor communication, which meant cab drivers were unaware their services were required.

Last night Mr. Burgess said it had been a positive meeting and a number of suggestions had been put forward.

He said he could not go into detail about most of them, but said better equipment was needed to help them communicate.

"There are numerous issues that affect this problem, but one of them is improving communication,'' he said.

"What we have suggested, and the hoteliers have agreed, is that they should invest in putting in a new system that enables them to radio the dispatch centres, so the message gets through a lot sooner. The taxi drivers themselves will probably hear the request over the radio.

"They are not highly expensive pieces of equipment and it should be relatively simple, but I think it will improve matters.'' He also said hotel management needed to be better prepared if they knew they required a number of taxis days in advance, to take guests to the airport, for example.

Mr. Burgess has also met with cab drivers to discuss how their safety can be improved in light of a number of attacks and robberies on drivers.

He is working with Government to look at their safety and has tasked the drivers themselves with coming up with ideas.

Mr. Burgess said last night: "There is no overnight solution. We have discussed a spray die, which could be used on attackers, but that possibly won't be practical and we have talked about spray mace, which is illegal.

"There are some features on the central dispatch equipment which we are looking to bring back to the cars, but that won't be for a while. We don't know what the solution is right now.

"I know some drivers are arming themselves and, while I don't condone that, I can't blame it either. People need to be protected.

"So we are still trying to work out a suitable solution.'' Derrick Burgess