RANK RUMBLINGS
MELKSHAM DRIVERS SAY THEIR VIEWS WERE LEFT OUT OF EARLY TALKS
Taxi drivers In Melk- sham are worried about where their rank fits into plans to redesign the town’s Marketplace. Paul Carter, of Paul’s Taxis, said that instead of the seven bay taxi rank they currently use, the revamp would see them given only six side-by-side park-
ing bays, which they believe would cause traffic chaos and hin- der trade.
He has planned to meet with Wiltshire Council’s consultant highway engineers Mouchel, and Jo Quar- tley,
the Wiltshire
council’s Hackney Car- riage officer, to see what could be done to
accommodate them. They will then report back to the full council. Mr Carter told the Wilt- shire Times: “It’s not that we are being argumentative, we just want something that can work.” He said there are around 20 taxis that use the rank, belonging to around 12 companies.
NEWPORT CABBIES DEMAND OFFICIAL TAXI RANK
Newport hackney car- riage drivers say they have had enough of PHVs illegally touting their fares from New- port train station and want an official hack- ney cab rank.
According to the South Wales Echo, a group of around 50 hackney drivers gathered out- side Newport Civic
Centre last month to demonstrate their con- cerns and present a petition of 49 signatures to a representative from the council’s licence department.
Chairman of Newport HC Drivers’ Association, Lionel Morris, said they want a rank to be set up at the train station with private hire cars not
allowed to use it. A copy of the petition was also e-mailed to Arriva Trains Wales, who lease the car park area outside the sta- tion to Dragon Taxis. A spokeswoman for the Council said it is currently looking in to the drivers’ concerns and will investigate any licensing offences.
MIDDLESBROUGH CABBIES HIT OUT AT SCRAPPING OF RANK
Nearly 40 taxi drivers fear losing their jobs after Morrisons store at Berwick Hills announced it was removing its taxi rank. Hackney driver Tim Fisher is one of those concerned about his livelihood. “There are 37 of us who work here,” he told the Teesside Evening Gazette. “There
are not enough ranks in the town so it could mean 37 job losses.” “We received a letter from Middlesbrough Council informing us that the Morrisons store will now imple- ment a free phone system, where cus- tomers can contact a local private hire firm.” Mr Fisher said he had
spoken to customers who were also against the changes as they will have to wait for the taxi to turn up. John Hodge- son, senior licensing officer at the council, said: “It is Morrisons’ policy throughout the country, and they decided to bring the Middlesbrough store in line with that.”
BRIGHTON CABBIES’ ANGER AT RANK SHORTENING
Taxi drivers have accused council boss- es of treating them with contempt after the rank outside the Old Ship Hotel on Brighton seafront was
short-
ened without notice. According to the Brighton Argus, Brigh- ton and Hove City Council had an- nounced its intention to
shorten it by ten metres through a pub- lic notice and began a 20-day consultation on the proposal.
But drivers are angry after the rank was marked out at the shortened length before the end of the consultation period. The GMB has written a letter of complaint and
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has also lodged a for- mal objection to the shortening of the rank. A Brighton and Hove City Council spokes- woman said in a statement: “No deci- sion on the size of the taxi rank has been made and we are cur- rently consulting with taxi drivers and other interested parties.”
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