TRAVEL
TRAUMAS LEEDS AIRPORT ‘GREED’ DISPUTE
Leeds taxi drivers are lobbying “greedy” air- port bosses to scrap new drop-off charges. Anyone wanting to drop off or collect pas- sengers outside the terminal building at Leeds Bradford Air- port now has to pay £2, no matter how brief their stop.
The move has attract- ed widespread crit- icism from the public. Cllr Andrew Carter, leader of the Tory group on Leeds City Council, branded the charge a “rip-off”. Now the Professional Drivers’ Branch of the GMB union has launched a petition demanding that the charges are dropped. Yorkshire branch sec-
retary Javaid Akhtar, also a Leeds councillor and taxi driver, told the Leeds Weekly News: “The airport manage- ment have become so greedy. It’s about time the people of this city and region stood up and said something.” Under the new system, cars’ number plates are recorded by cameras as they enter the short- stay car park outside the terminal The dri- ver’s fee, which rises to £5 after half an hour, is calculated when they leave and can be paid in cash or by card. Naeem Azam, York- shire branch president for the GMB’s Profes- sional Drivers’ Branch, said cabbies had no choice but to add the
cost of the new charge to fares.
The airport has intro- duced a free drop-off facility in the long-stay car parks half a mile from the terminal A shuttle bus runs on a continuous loop to ferry passengers to the terminal and back. Private hire drivers can pay an annual £25 subscription to use the short-stay car park for up to 15 minutes. But Mr Akhtar said: “We want the airport to stop penalising peo- ple. They are giving the airport business and yet, ultimately, they are being pushed elsewhere.” Petitions will be placed in taxi offices and cabs for passengers to sign.
EDINBURGH STATION CABBIES FACE BAN
Edinburgh drivers could be banned from Waverley Station under proposals being drawn up to defend it against a terrorist threat.
The station, which is undergoing a multi- million-pound over- haul, is the only one in the UK which allows motorists to drive right into its centre.
Network Rail, which runs Waverley, said it was being required to look at arrangements
for both taxis and PHVs due to government anti-terror restrictions. Taxi drivers have previ- ously complained about being forced into surrounding streets while work is carried out to mod- ernise the train station. A possible ban would see cabbies forced to find a new permanent rank to replace the one currently next to the station concourse. Cllr Allan Jackson told the Edinburgh
Evening News: “There is certainly a need to guard against terrorist threats, but on the other side of the coin this could cause sig- nificant problems for people, elderly people for example, who need a taxi fairly close by. “Public safety has to come first, but I would hope these proposals would be put before the licensing board and to users of the sta- tion before anything is decided.”
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On-the-spot fines are to be dished out to taxi drivers blamed for turning a key gateway to Cardiff into a “chaot- ic embarrassment”. For the past few months, drivers have endured frustrating waits as cabbies park along the road that leads from the drop-off area at the front of Cardiff Central station. Despite being marked with double yellow lines, a queue of cabs can be regularly seen waiting bumper-to- bumper all the way back to the junction with Wood Street. The road is so narrow that drivers attempting to pick up or drop off at the station have lit- tle option but to join the queue.
FINES TO TACKLE CARDIFF STATION CHAOS offenders.
The authority is modi- fying its Traffic Regulation Order to allow civil enforce- ment officers to issue the fines immediately. Currently, officers have to wait five min- utes to see if the taxi is loading or unloading. Mathab Khan, chair- man of the Cardiff Hackney Carriage Association, said the station rank only accommodated six cabs, and drivers had no choice but to park along the road.
Cardiff Council is now planning a crackdown by handing out on-the- spot £70 fines to
He said it was previ- ously not an issue as drivers would pull onto the pavement to allow the traffic to flow freely, but earlier this year the council erect- ed barriers along the pavement to prevent cabbies pulling over. “Instead of giving us more spaces they are
now taking away the few spaces that are available. We will fight against this, it’s insane,” he told the South Wales Echo. Mr Khan said the fines would only force cab- bies to drive in circles around the station waiting for a space to become available in the rank, adding to congestion.
“The council has a moral duly to provide us with a workplace where we can work safely and be able to earn a living. They are depriving us of that.” He said drivers had to pay more than £300 a year to use the sta- tion’s other two ranks, by the Sleeperz Hotel and to the rear of the station. He has previ- ously called for the annual charge to be replaced by a swipe- and-pay system.
PHTM AUGUST 2011
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