...RUMBLINGS
OUTRAGE AFTER POPULAR RANK IS CLOSED IN DAVENTRY
Taxi drivers in the town have warned their livelihoods are at stake following a decision by Daventry District Coun- cil (DDC) to turn down an application for a new rank next to Wait- rose in New Street, opposite the bus station. The licensing commit- tee decided to allow cabbies to use the layby as a rank over Christ- mas and New Year, but this has now ended and the decision is impact- ing severely on the town’s taxi drivers. Mehmet Mersin, owner of MM Taxi, told the Daventry Express: “When we could park there, I would make between £40 to £45 a day. In the past two days, I have made very little. This is a crazy decision by DDC.”
There are currently 60 registered taxis with six ranks in the town providing space for 22 vehicles. However the taxi ranks along the High Street are closed on market days - Tues- day and Friday - which makes the situation worse.
Officers from DDC argued it would provide an increased availabili- ty of taxis in the area which would benefit people in the town including the elderly and disabled. Cllr Colin Poole, vice- chairman of the licensing committee, who voted against the plans said: “The reason for rejecting the appli- cation is that we felt as a committee that anoth- er taxi rank was not needed in the town.”
CAMRIDGE CABBIES GIVEN PARKING TICKETS
Taxi drivers have been picking up more than fares in a city centre rank, after police dished out 30 parking fines to them.
The move came as offi- cers targeted the “hotspot for the obstruction of vehi- cles” in St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge, issuing the tickets to taxis for “over-ranking”. They were acting after a meeting of Cam- bridge City West’s neighbourhood polic- ing panel in August, where residents asked officers to make the move a priority. Joint patrols were car- ried out in the evening peak times with Legion Parking war- dens. There were 72 prosecutions of motorists and 104
fines dished out to cyclists. Taxi drivers have previ- ously threatened to bring gridlock to the city because of a short- age of taxi ranks. Karl Stamper, a committee member of NPHA affili- ated Cambridge City Licensed Taxis, told the Cambridge News: “This problem has been ongoing and until the city council do what 45 per cent of other local authorities do and limit the number of taxis, the problem won’t go away.
“There are 316 taxis in Cambridge and only 36 spaces. There is a slow build-up in num- bers which will make this sort of chaos only get worse until the council do some- thing.”
RANK ISSUES DISCUSSED FOR SKEGNESS TAXIS
Taxi ranks were dis- cussed at the meeting of Skegness Town Council’s manage- ment committee in December. Taxi drivers questioned councillors about why there could not be a taxi rank for all-day use on the seafront, and why taxis cannot wait and pick up in the coach park in Richmond Drive. One driver told the Skegness Standard: “I can’t work out why East Lindsey District Council and Skegness Town Council object to the rank on the seafront outside the Embassy being used 24 hours because it causes obstruction to the car park near the lifeboat station, yet the disabled can park there all day. Coaches also
park on the double yel- low lines there all day long.”
He said he was frustrat- ed that it seemed to be one rule for taxis and another for everyone else. He had been out with highways repre- sentatives many times, but nothing had been done.
The drivers said they could not understand why more ranks had not been put in Skeg- ness with the increase in the number of taxis. Cllr Phil Kemp said there had not been an increase, but the driv- ers quoted ELDC who said the number of taxis had risen by 59 in five years. Cllr Kemp agreed that rank provision was a problem, and said ELDC would look into it.
FLEETINSURANCE from insure TAXI
• personal visits • dedicated fleet manager assigned
to each case with mobile number to ensure you get straight through to them
• great selection of Insurers
TEL0800 142 2823
WWW.INSURETAXI.COM
• plated replacement vehicles service FEBRUARY 2010 PHTM PAGE 51
• monthly instalments • pro-active claims management
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
