54 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
MARCH 2009 RANK RUMBLINGS
PROTEST THREAT IN HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
Fed-up taxi drivers have threatened to stage a town-centre protest unless the council provides more rank spaces.
Cabbies forced to dou- ble park in Hemel Hempstead were moved on by police for causing a road hazard. But according to taxi drivers, there is no option but to cram the rank in Marlowes because the council is failing to provide more parking spaces for cabs. Tony Clarke, chairman of the Hemel Hemp- stead Taxi Association, said: “All of us agree that [double parking] shouldn’t be allowed, but there’s no other way we can stop and wait for hire.
“The council’s still issuing licences for taxis, and only provid-
ing 14 rank spaces.” Mr Clarke said plans for a new town centre taxi rank in Water- house Street, drawn up as part of the River- side development, had still not come to fruition, meaning there was only one rank in Marlowes and one in Tring for all taxis in Dacorum. The 63-year-old cab- bie added: “We are considering having a protest with all taxis in the town centre because we feel so strongly about it.” According to police, taxis double parked at the rank in Marlowes were moved on Janu- ary
19. Laurel
Smithson, spokesman for Herts Police, told the Hemel Hempstead Gazette: “It is our duty to do this for the safe- ty of pedestrians and
other drivers as the double parking was causing an obstruc- tion to the road.” A,
spokesman for Dacorum Borough Council, said: “We regularly remind driv- ers in a newsletter that it is illegal to double park on the rank. “If they fail to obey the requests from the police they may risk prosecution, and driv- ers are advised that they should drive on until space becomes available.”
The spokesman added: “The council have agreed propos- als for the taxi rank in Waterhouse Street. This is now down to the county council and the developers of Riverside to obtain traffic regulation orders and actually install the rank.”
MORE TAXI RANKS TO COPE WITH DEMAND IN SPALDING
An inadequate num- ber of taxi ranks in Spalding is to be tackled with the cre- ation of 15 new spaces, despite objections from busi- nesses.
The Lincolnshire Free Press reports that last year South Holland District Council’s licensing team consulted oper- ators and the public about changes to taxi rank provision, including three new spaces near the Black Swan in New Road and three out- side the Job Centre, Westlode Street, and removal of the Victo- ria Street rank. The licensing commit- tee has been asked to approve the changes. Some traders had opposed the creation of night-time spaces
because they feared they could lead to anti-social behaviour and have a detrimen- tal effect on businesses.
But the report to councillors says: “Taxi rank provision needs to be increased in line with expansion of the taxi trade and late night economy.
“The recommenda- tions have been made to make the current taxi rank provision fit for purpose and to assist with regulation, control and enforce- ment.
“While the concerns of local businesses and residents are fully understood, grounds for the objection do not outweigh the advantage of such propopsals.
“Proper regulated
taxi ranks should improve, not exacer- bate, the current problems. “A number of alterna- tive locations have been considered by the council and its partner organisations and these proposed locations have been agreed by them as being the most suit- able.”
The report adds that a rank in Broad Street has been dis- counted due to poor lighting and because it is in a pedestri- anised area du ring the day.
The costs incurred for advertising, sig- nage and road marking/line removal will total about £2,500, which will be funded from the licensing budget 2008/9.
PEACE PLEA BY YORK MP IN TAXI RANK ROW
A row over a city cen- tre taxi rank has prompted York’s MP to call for all sides to meet up and reach a solution.
The plea by Hugh Bayley comes after cabbies presented a petition to City of York Council asking for the rank in Duncombe Place, opposite the Dean Court Hotel, to be returned to 24-hour operation.
The rank was one of York’s busiest but in 2007 it was closed between 10pm and 7.30am following complaints of anti- social behaviour made by nearby resi- dents and the management of the Dean Court.
Mr Bayley said he was contacted by a cabbie who was moved on by police when he tried to stop in front of a queue of around 100 people, waiting at the rank in the early hours of Christmas Day. The MP then wrote to
North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council, asking them to resolve the squabble. He said he received a reply from police saying they were carrying out the directions of the council.
Mr Bayley said: “It seems to me the solu- tion is for the council, who make the rules, and the police, who enforce the rules, and the residents, who are disturbed by the noise, to get together and sort something out,” he said.
“If you have 100 peo- ple waiting for a taxi then you are inviting trouble. It may be in the interest of the hotel and the resi- dents not to have people waiting,” he added.
Black cab drivers have now submitted the petition, organised by driver Bill Brolly, with around 150 sig- natures of taxi drivers on it. It calls on the council to reinstate
24-hour opening of the rank.
If the request is refused, the petition suggests a taxi rank in St Sampson’s Square so that late night taxi provision is increased. York Taxi Association is supporting the peti- tion. Its secretary, Graham Phillips, told the York Evening Press: “We want Dun- combe Place to return to 24 hours. It’s the safest rank in York; it’s well-lit and easily accessible to the pub- lic.
“It’s the main rank for the north of the city and a lot of our female customers use it.” A spokeswoman for City of York Council said that in the first instance the petition would be discussed at a meeting between licensing officers and taxi drivers, but that if any changes were to be made they would first have to go out to public consultation.
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