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BIRMINGHAM CHAOS: TAXI DRIVERS STAGE REPEATED PROTESTS AGAINST CAZ PLANS
The already polluted air over Birmingham became more seri- ously clogged with the fumes of stalled traffic last month, when hackney dri- vers staged yet another series of weekday go-slow protest drives that were predicted to extend into this month. They claim they have been “steam- rolled” over
the
Clean Air Zone strat- egy, which was ap- proved by the city’s Licensing and Public Protection Commit- tee on 10 April. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), representing those taxi drivers who have been tak- ing part
in the
protests, confirmed they were staging a series of daily go- slow demonstrat- ions between Tues- day April 23rd and Friday May 3rd, spreading the times of these demos over
either the morning or evening rush hours. The CAZ will impose a daily £8 charge to high-polluting cars travelling inside the A4540 ring road from January 2020: Euro 6 diesel and Euro 4 petrol vehi- cles. Hundreds of diesel black cab drivers face having to upgrade if they are to avoid the fees. The RMT had initial- ly cancelled plans for further demon- strations while they attempted to nego- tiate with
the treatment of drivers and visitors in the gallery of the 10 April Committee meeting where dri- vers reacted with anger when they were informed they would not be per- mitted to speak at the meeting – which had to be suspend- ed for several min- utes due to angry outbursts. So they took to the streets instead. The initial
protests the
council over the new emissions policy; some concessions had been made but the changes did not meet all the cabbies’ demands which in- cluded total exemp- tion from the CAZ charge and more funding
towards
LPG conversion of their existing vehicle or buying a new compliant vehicle. The catalyst for the latest demos was
brought chaos to the city, with the roads around Hol- loway Circus and Pagoda Island grid- locked. Buses were diverted, while some commuters aban- doned them on the roundabout
and
walked through the gridlocked vehicles on foot. Some angry motor- ists blasted their horns at the cab- bies, who later apologised over the demos but said they would continue. Rail
commuters found a taxi shortage after coming off the train at New Street Sta- tion. RMT Midlands union president Raja Amin declared the demon- strations a success and warned that even more drivers could join in over the course of the protests. He said: “We feel there have been no meaningful discussions or nego- tiations and no real changes to the ini- tial proposals. We wanted to show Birmingham City Council that we are not going to take their policy lying down.” Cllr Barbara Dring, chair of the Licens- ing Committee, said last month that the council had “done the best we can” for the drivers. They vehemently disagree; we will report on fur- ther actions via our Facebook page or our website.
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SERVICES
May2019
Issue320
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