A local taxi dispatcher has ignored his landlady?s request to vacate his premises by New Year?s Eve because it was one of the busiest nights of the year.

Radio Cabs owner Edward Darrell refused to leave the old Jamaican Grill at 33 Ord Road, Warwick by December 31 until he was given a Court Order.

?I have not failed in rent. I installed everything in the place,? Mr. Darrell said this week. ?I have to do what I have to do to survive. A move like this takes pre-planning.?

He already installed 20 telephone lines at the Ord Road taxi dispatch, but conceded he was looking forward to taking Radio Cabs back to Hamilton.

?I have to do what I have to do to survive,? he said. ?There are no hard feelings. It is just business.?

A spokeswoman from Radio Cabs said yesterday the Company had occupied the old Jamaican Grill since April but had never been given a reason why they had to get out.

?We were supposed to be here to give people service,? she said. ?But they have put our service on the edge at Christmas and New Year?s which are our busiest times of the year.?

Mr. Darrell applied for a change of use for ?Adele Cottage,? on Ord Road, Paget to an office space and dispatch for Bermuda Taxi Radio Cabs on July 19.

But on November 7 his landlady Doris Williams told Planning she had given Radio Cabs notice to get out by December 31.

?I wish to request that the approval be held over for another taxi service to operate from these premises,? Mrs. Williams said.

Mrs. Williams is seeking to change the building?s use from a restaurant ? which it once was ? to a taxi dispatching office for the Bermuda Taxi Association (BTA) Liability Company.

BTA is a new taxi dispatcher which hopes to attract over half the Island?s 600 taxi drivers to its global positioning system (GPS) service .

?The facility will be operated by a dispatch taxi service on a 24-hour basis with three shifts, seven days a week, 360 days a year and will employ ten people.