Taxi Driver Online

Town's cabbies close ranks in campaign for more taxi rank spaces

TAXI drivers in Yeovil are set to draw ranks in a battle over the lack of provision in the town. A meeting was due to be held at the Quicksilver Mail public house yesterday as the Western Gazette went to press in which between 40 and 80 drivers were expected to attend to discuss the poor treatment they feel they are receiving from the local authorities.

Driver Tim Hayers, who has organised the meeting with a colleague Dave Lilley, said an official of the GMB union will be at the meeting to recruit so a united front can be presented to fight South Somerset District Council over a number of issues.

One of the main problems they are experiencing is the lack of taxi rank spaces in Yeovil. Mr Hayers said there are eight spaces at the main rank in Silver Street which is not enough, and to compound matters, drivers who sit on double yellow lines behind the rank waiting to move into a space as it becomes vacant, are likely to fall victim to police community support officers who are under orders to pounce on them.

He said drivers were unable to load a wheelchair at Silver Street as the pavement was too narrow and on a slope. "Since the council opened it up so anyone can get a licence if they meet the criteria, there are 18 to 20 cars fighting for just eight spaces on Silver Street," he said.

"Cars have been parking at the top of Middle Street so we can see that as soon as a car moves on we can move in. But now the authorities have been instructed to issue an on-the-spot £30 fine for parking on double yellow lines. "All we are trying to do is earn a living. We pay a great deal of money to the council to go to work but putting it bluntly, they don't give a damn.

"Every single firm we have spoken to has had some sort of grievance. The union has said if we can get enough drivers to come together there is a lot they can do to help.

"The rank needs moving from Silver Street. The ideal place would be King George Street, which could be opened up just for taxis. Or they could start a rank outside the Green Room restaurant which comes round upper Middle Street where it used to be. We need room to park at least 15 cars.

"We are estimating between 40-80 drivers will attend the meeting and are hoping that they will join the union and let them fight our corner for us as the council never listen to us."

In response to the concerns, Julia Bradburn, principal licensing official at the district council, said: "We have a duty to provide enough taxis to serve the needs of the public, and of course we also need to provide enough taxi ranks to be able to accommodate people's needs for taxis so that people don't have to wait too long.

"What we don't have is a duty to provide additional waiting spaces for taxis who want to wait near ranks where there are already ample taxis waiting to pick people up, nor spend taxpayers' money on providing more space for extra taxis to park in at times when not all of the taxis are in use. "It's a fine balance between what the public need – an adequate amount of taxis waiting in ranks when they need them – and supporting our taxi drivers.

"Having said that, there are many taxi rank spaces spread right across Yeovil town centre and, to date, these arrangements have worked well. We haven't yet had any formal complaints from any of our drivers about the number of taxi ranks, or from any members of the public about not being able to get taxis quickly enough.

"At the moment we provide eight well-used spaces at Silver Street, nine at the old Somerfield car park, four outside the Globe and Crown, three opposite Laceys, three outside Chicago Rock and overspill in Stars Lane car park, two in Hendford and three evening spaces near the Akash on Middle Street. Some of these are less well used than others but they are there if needed by our drivers.

"We understand the Silver Street rank sometimes gets busy, and a driver may have to drive around to the next rank, but there are always spaces elsewhere for them to wait at.

"Last year we also had each and every taxi rank fully audited and photographed in conjunction with the Highways Authority to make sure their length, width, signage, marking and gradient was fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act regulations and other highway and traffic legislation so we are able to confirm that they all meet the required standard.

"If we or the town council are contacted by either the public or our taxi drivers we will of course look into their issues and try to work with them to meet their needs."

_________________
IDFIMH

I think that would be the answer we would get. At the moment, there are probably 15 spaces in various parts of the borough that go unused. Ergo, sufficient rank space exists.

Well I'v seen the rank at silver street and if that rank is DDA compliant I would be very surprised, on a hill, the pavement is about 3ft wide.

_________________
Mick Hildreth (07814 032002)
GMB PDB P39 Southern Region Branch Secretary
mick.hildreth@gmbtaxis.org.uk
www.gmbpdb.org.uk

Well according to the Dft this is how it should be!

7 Taxi ranks
At present over 80 Licensing Authorities have introduced mandatory orders requiring some or all of the taxis within their area to be wheelchair accessible. Regulations under consideration for implementation under the DDA will require further wheelchair accessible taxis to be provided.

Wherever feasible to do so, taxi ranks should be provided adjacent to railway, bus and coach stations, and all major attractors such as retail areas. If possible, ranks should be located close to the facility being served and should have clear signs within the facility showing where they are. Ranks should be sited so that passengers board or alight onto the footway from the nearside of the taxi. The width of unobstructed footway should be sufficient to allow the deployment of wheelchair ramps (up to 1620mm) and adequate manoeuvring space for the wheelchair user. The suggested total width is 4040mm. A dropped kerb or raised road crossing should be provided close to the rank if passengers need to cross a street to get to or from the taxis.

The ranks themselves should be clearly signed and should have seating close by. If the rank does not have taxis regularly standing at certain times, the sign should state what these times are and give telephone number(s) for calling a taxi. Embossed information of this type would assist blind and partially sighted people.

_________________
Mick Hildreth (07814 032002)
GMB PDB P39 Southern Region Branch Secretary
mick.hildreth@gmbtaxis.org.uk
www.gmbpdb.org.uk