ATHENS — Driving schools should reopen immediately and classes restart, the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen said in a letter to Deputy Infrastructure and Transport Minister Yiannis Kefalogiannis on Friday.

The chamber noted that over 50,000 citizens have applied for a driver's license but lessons have not restarted, while sector staff has been left without income since November 2020.

In addition, 80 pct of instructors in driving schools do not have access to funding tools or even to repayable loans other professionals had, while the sector faces unemployment and financial catastrophe, it underlined.

"What is more infuriating is that some professionals like taxi drivers have been operating normally all this time with a maximum of three people in their vehicles, while driving classes only require two people in the car, the trainer and the trainee, and while contact tracing is very easy, as appointments are set ahead of time," the chamber said in its letter.