Private Drivers

Hélène's unwritten suggestion is that these people are illegally working on St-Barth, I presume???

It's more that, to date, taxi drivers have had the monopoly on transporting people on St Barts and that people providing private chauffeurs are basically unlicensed, uninsured and the source of their income necessarily undeclared.

The exception would appear to be the company that KATVA has posted, who apparently do have a private limo license, the first to do so.

This is their first season, let's see how they get on!

It could light a fire under the taxi drivers, they could just fizzle out. I can't see them working all year round.

We shall see.

And, the paparazzi? Is her suggestion that they're declaring themselves tourists upon entry but are actually working? I'm asking, as I don't fully follow her post's intent.

Reading through the whole facebook discussion it is the private drivers that a causing the real stir.

Paparazzi are just universally annoying, and discourage celebs from coming to the island.

The taxi thing is an old debate: The taxi drivers have had a monopoly since the beginning of time.

Over the holidays demand outstrips supply many times over so private individuals step in to fill the gap.

Problem is that they aren't insured and you can get into BIIGGG trouble for employing them, so regular business don't, which means the whole thing is handled surreptitiously.

Bit of a quagmire really.

Our solution has always been to rent a car and have the one that has had the least rhums drive.

For those new to the isle, take a couple days to drive around, day and night, and then just cruise.

As for those irritating paparazzi, I'm doing my annual repost of what we deal with some days.

Those idiots have a fascination with IDF and Taiwana. They also run like hell when we throw hot coffee and empty cans at them. Swearing at them, in various languages, with unmentionable threats usually gets them to move on, too.

Paparazzis are where the rich & famous are.....it contributes to the show. It's also free publicity (and sometimes not free) for both the people and the island.

There are a few paparazzis full time on the island (they are well known) and as far as I know they're legally declared as photographers.

It's not uncommon in France to see on magazine's cover pages some of the celebs in St Barths. Sometimes the picture is stolen (read taken without the person's agreement), sometimes the picture is sold by the person or agent to the photographer....

.......

Edited to say: there might be some paparazzis coming just for the NY holidays...who are not legally established on the island, but then we should also have a closer look at other businesses running well and sound during these busy times....and which aren't fully established as such either.....

Love-hate-love relationship. Love the coverage until it is overbearing, then hate it. Then have to love it to keep the name in the forefront. Dennis explained this all to me sometime ago.