42 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY IN THE NEWS
BLACKPOOL DRIVER THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DIE
A Blackpool taxi driver is calling for “death- trap” roadworks to be better
lit after he
claims he thought he was going to die after swerving to miss them. Daniel Waddell suf- fered cracked ribs and whiplash
injuries
when he crashed into sand dunes as he tried to avoid the roadworks. He now says he is frightened to get into a vehicle after the recent incident on Clifton Drive North. With no lighting to warn drivers of the potential danger and fog condi- tions Mr Waddell, a taxi driver for eight years, said he did not see the hole in the road until he was about a metre away. Mr Waddell, 28, of May- field Avenue, South Shore, told the Black- pool Gazette: “I thought
I was going to die. They’ve put these road- works in the worst place in Blackpool for fog. “It should be lit up like a Christmas tree and there should be a reduced speed limit. “There was a car com- ing the other way so I swerved back but the car went on the same side of the road so I had to swerve right and I lost control. “The car went on a massive skid. I hit the kerb, my car went up in the air and dropped in a ditch in the sand dunes. “I’m lucky I’m not dead. I’m quite frightened to drive now. I’m para- noid.” After scrambling from his car he phoned emergency services and was taken to Black- pool Victoria Hospital by a friend. The crash happened
close to Pontins and wreckage from the blue 2.2 SRI, which was writ- ten off, can still be seen scattered across the sand dunes. The Premier Cabs driv- er now hopes lighting and better signposts will be erected by the hole. He said: “There are only a few barriers and cones. It should have been lit up. Someone needs to take responsi- bility.
I could have
died.” Lancashire County Council said they would speak to Gas Alliance, which is responsible for a num- ber of trial holes along Clifton Drive North, about the matter. A spokesman for the Gas Alliance said: “We cannot comment on a road traffic acci- dent. We
will
investigate what hap- pened.”
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People who book a taxi with a new company in Shirley can be content that they are doing their bit for the environment as they go on their way. That’s because G Cars is Toyota Prius hybrid cars which boast low carbon emissions and has signed up to a car- bon offset programme which sees trees plant-
DRIVING THE GREEN TAXI IN SOLIHULL for
ed in Scotland to com- pensate
the
emissions it is responsi- ble for. The business is the brainchild of Assad Mahmood and Fida Sadiq, . Mr Mahmood told the Solihull Times: “We thought therewould be a market for this in Solihull. “We currently have a
MAY 2009
small fleet of Toyota Prius cars, which we are hoping to expand. “The Prius has a carbon footprint of 104 g/km, at least a third of that of a black cab and at least half that of a normal pri- vate hire car. “We are aiming to pro- vide carbon neutral journeys for up to four passengers.”
CHELTENHAM FIRM WINS BACKING FOR GREEN ENGINES
Pioneering environ- mental
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engineering
company Clean Fuel Systems has won finan- cial backing to help make the county’s taxis greener and cleaner. The RBS is providing the company with a £150,000 loan under the
Government’s
Small Firms Loan Guar- antee Scheme. It will enable Clean Fuel Systems to develop its clean engine project, which converts diesel engines to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The Cheltenham-based company is led by chair- man Steven Mills and the business purchased the technology to con- vert diesel engines to
LPG in 2006. Since then it has been modifying and upgrading the tech- nology
whilst
researching the taxi market with a view to converting cab engines from diesel to LPG. It helps taxi operators not only meet new emission regulations but also provide them with savings in fuel and operating costs. Currently Clean Fuel Systems is concentrat- ing on the black cabs, either Fairway or TXl models, but the tech- nology can also be extended into the light commercial
vehicle
market. Clean Fuel Systems is also in final negotia-
tions with a national fuel supplier with a view to increasing its LPG fuel supply through the creation of a small number of “LPG bunker sites”
at outlets
throughout the UK. Steven Mills told the Gloucester Citizen: “We sense a real opportuni- ty here. Regulations mean that taxi opera- tors have to address the issues of emissions in their vehicle fleets and the potential within the market in the UK is huge. “The additional fund- ing raised provides us with the platform to develop a quantity of engines to market aggressively.
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