STATION STIRRINGS LLANELLI CABBIES ARE LOSING RACE FOR PUNTERS
Cabbies from several businesses turned up at Llanelli railway sta- tion in the hope of securing some decent fares by taking punters to the opening of Ffos Las racecourse. It was late morning when they discovered they had some stiff compe- tition when they saw coaches put on by Arri- va UK Trains arriving. Travellers choosing the coach would only have to fork out £5 for a return ticket. Cabbie Paul Williams, who runs P and A Cabs, said: “We have no chance when they are offering it for £5 return. We were fum- ing. When you have big events in the area, it is our chance to make some money. “We should have been asked to give some
sort of service. I reck- on they took about 60 people, so that might have been 30 cars, which would have been £15 to £20 each time. We could have all shared it.”
Glanymor councillor Winston Lemon said he shared the cab- bies’ dismay. He told the Llanelli Star: “They have been deprived of fares. They should have been warned or consulted.”
In another blow to the taxi drivers, it appears this is to be a regular arrangement.
Martin Gilbert, road transport manager at Arriva UK Trains, said: “Arriva has been con- tracted by Ffos Las racecourse to run shuttle services from Llanelli station to its regular fixtures.”
LINCOLN CABBIES ANGRY OVER BUS STATION BAN
Lincoln cabbies have spoken out against plans to stop them using the bus station as a drop-off point for passengers.
The City of Lincoln Council received com- plaints from bus drivers about the health and safety risk posed by taxis and now intends to ban all vehicles other than buses from entering the station.
Head of Corporate Support Services at the the City of Lincoln Council, Carolyn Wheater, told the Lin- colnshire Echo: “We have written to taxi drivers for their views about setting up an official taxi drop off point at the city’s bus station. We found that dropping off and pick- ing up within the
station is a significant risk to passengers. “This situation is unac- ceptable and we want to resolve it as soon as possible.”
The drivers do not agree that their use of the station is unsafe and feel the service they provide is too valuable to ban.
Managing director of Discount Cabs, Steve Read, said: “This is going to cause a prob- lem for a lot of people. “You get people with luggage there who don’t know the city, as well as people who have got their weekly shopping and can’t carry it to another part of the city to be col- lected.
“The bus station is the most popular drop- ping off point for taxi drivers in the city.”
SHENFIELD STATION MAY GET NEW TAXI RANK
A proposal has been made to create an overflow taxi rank behind Shenfield train station to end the traf- fic chaos caused by queues of cabs. This is just one of a series of possible solu- tions put forward to tackle the overflowing rank in Hutton Road, used by up to 160 taxis. Others include provid- ing a separate rank at the car park off Hunter Avenue and addition- al taxi spaces further along Hutton Road. Brentwood Council’s licensing appeals committee chairman, Cllr Joan Holmes, also warned taxi driv- ers who parked dangerously outside the existing rank faced fines.
Cllr Holmes told the Brentwood Gazette:
“The situation at the moment is pretty dire. Taxi drivers have to earn a living, we appreciate that, but at the same time we have residents to consider. They have to work with us to find a solution.” By far the most popular solution is an overflow rank stretching along the entrance of the car park around the back of the station, off Mount Avenue. Then either a traffic light sys- tem or cameras could show drivers when there was space around the front. But the only hitch is that this car park is owned and managed by companies uncon- nected to the National Express franchise, which is responsible for issuing the taxi permits.
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PHTM AUGUST 2009
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