Brussels cabbies protest brings city to a standstill

In yet another protest against Uber and other companies operating the same ride hailing format, taxi drivers have blockaded streets of Brussels today.

The protest began at 5am local time, causing chaos on major roads leading into and out of the capital during rush hour. The disruption also caused problems on the roads leading to and from Brussels airport.

One of the major concerns for the Belgian Taxi Federation, who called today's protest, is the proposal that ride-hailing companies such as Uber would be granted the same operational rights as ranking taxis. This is on the back of the regional government approving proposals to make public transport free of charge so as to try to alleviate some of the high pollution levels in Brussels at certain times.