A rebellion at the country's largest cab company, the 700-vehicle Auckland Co-operative Taxi Society, yesterday took the scalps of its two top officials.
Society chairman Robert van Heiningen and his deputy, Brian Lough, presented their resignations to the society's six-member committee.
The resignations follow tumult at a special generalmeeting on Tuesday, at which hundreds of owner-drivers voted to oust the pair and champagne was quaffed to celebrate the coup.
Although the officials indicated then that they would step down, the three days it took them to hand in their resignations caused jitters in the taxi ranks, fuelled by a rumour that Mr van Heiningen might manoeuvre himself into a new position of general manager.
Mr van Heiningen, confirming his resignation after yesterday's committee meeting, told the Weekend Herald that he had no intention of applying for the job after serving as chairman for the past five years. "I will be pursuing other interests."
He would not say what these were, or whether he would return to driving taxis as a shareholder-owner of the co-operative.
He also would not comment on why he had aroused such strong opposition, saying he was abiding by "a democratic process".
He said he and Mr Lough would remain as committee members until another general meeting was held early next month to accept nominations for replacements.
This has annoyed some owner-drivers, who believe the pair should relinquish all official duties immediately.
They may call for more committee resignations next month.
A spokesman for those opposed to the way the society was run, Bill Woodman, said one of their main gripes was that the six committee members had turned their positions into paid management jobs when they were not professionally qualified.
The meeting on Tuesday resolved to employ a qualified general manager for the organisation. Its annual office turnover has grown to $20 million and it has more than 1000 owners and drivers.
Other complaints have been about the cost of uniforms, the fines of up to $1000 for misdemeanours by drivers, and having to pay hundreds of dollars a month in fees and levies, while allegedly having little or no say in how the society is run.
Mr Woodman acknowledged this week that Mr van Heiningen had "done a lot of good things" for the society, but said he ran the company as though he owned it.
