The owner of a Belfast taxi company today accused loyalist paramilitaries of being behind an orchestrated campaign to force him out of business.
He was speaking after a number of his drivers had their cars hijacked at gunpoint and burnt out in the north of the city.
Mr Jackie Mahood, owner of Call-a-Cab said: "The police are saying this is a co-ordinated campaign by the Ulster Volunteer Force to put me out of business.
"More than 50 drivers and 12 staff could lose their jobs if we are forced to close."
Mr Mahood, a former member of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) which has links to the UVF, was shot in the head twice at his depot in 1997.
His business was also pipebombed in 2000. Both attacks were blamed on the UVF. The hijackings occurred at around 7 p.m. yesterday in the Ballysillan, Highfield, Glencairn and Woodvale areas of north Belfast.
Seven taxis were burned out Woodvale Parade, Disraeli Street and Ardoyne Road areas. One of the drivers suffered a broken cheek bone when he was beaten about the head.
Mr Mahood said the attacks happened after a taxi and van were involved in an accident in Ballysillan Park earlier in the day.