Taxi Driver Online

Taxi bid to curb late night violence

BLACKBURN town centre will become a giant taxi rank in a bid to reduce violence by whisking revellers home at the end of the night.

The trial, known as Operation Indigo, will see extra private hire companies drafted in this weekend to stop frustrated drinkers fighting while waiting for a lift home.

Two roads will be closed to traffic in the early hours of Saturday and Sunday, creating a one-way "taxi-only" loop.

The system will allow private hire vehicles to queue for fares in the Darwen Street area and get away quickly along St Peter's Street and Market Street Lane.

The scheme has been welcomed by taxi operators but town centre pubs supremo Margo Grimshaw said she was sceptical about whether it would work.

She said: "If young people go out at night they go for a drink and sex. And lads aren't going home until all hope is gone, so they hang around on Darwen Street hoping "she" will pass."

Between 1.30am and 3.30am at weekends, up to 2,000 people descend on the area looking for food from one of the many takeaways and a ride home.

But because there are only two private hire firms in the street, Silverline and Golden Line, it can take people up to two hours to get a taxi.

Revellers' frustration has caused Darwen Street to become the number one crime hot spot in the town centre.

Since April there have been 171 crimes in the early hours, the majority being fights and public order offences.

The new scheme follows a police and Blackburn with Darwen Council investigation into the problem.

Previously, private hire vehicles were unable to take revellers home without being booked as it is illegal to flag them down.

Astley Gate, running alongside Debenhams into Darwen Street, will now be closed and Darwen Street will also be blocked off from the junction of St Peter's Street to Jubilee Street.

Taxis will travel through Fleming Square wait in line outside the cathedral grounds and in St Peter's Street - where taxi marshals will create 'take me home' points for revellers to queue.

Private hire bosses have said their prices may go up by 50p to cover the cost of looping around the town centre to get back on track through Blackburn Boulevard.

Maqsood Khan, of the borough's hackney carriage association, said: "I think that anything the police do to alleviate and deter anybody committing crime is great.

"We will be going down Darwen Street as well as the private hire companies.

"We are totally opposed to taxi marshals but that's the council's policy at the moment and we have to go with it."

Zahid Mahmood, owner of Pyramid takeaway in Darwen Street, said: "We will have to wait and see how it goes. I think it will affect business a little bit but the trouble is not that bad at the moment."

Sergeant Rachel Hanley, in charge of town centre policing, said: "We would like to try this as a trial period in partnership with the council this weekend in an attempt to reduce violent crime and also the risk of accidents in Darwen Street."

Coun Andy Kay, council executive member for regeneration, said: "If this is successful we would aim to continue the scheme."

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IDFIMH

journalistic license gone mad
over interpreted.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lanca ... SBBN2.html

a little more news on this issue

regards

Captain Cab

Violence blamed on 'pirate' taxis
A TAXI firm in a crime hotspot today blamed the police and council for the rising violence they are trying to stop.

A spokesman for Silverline, based in Darwen Street, Blackburn, spoke out after a scheme to turn an area around his business into a 'giant taxi rank' to reduce disorder was revealed.

Police and council bosses believe that crime will be cut by whisking revellers away from town centre more quickly at the end of a night.

But the Silverline spokesman claimed the problems in Darwen Street had been caused by a failure to tackle rogue private hire vehicles being hailed, even though they are not legally allowed to be flagged down.

This, he added, had led to a concentration of revellers hanging around the road at the end of a night out knowing they could get a cab.

The spokesman said that instead of clamping down on this, the creation of a taxi rank meant the council and police were condoning the actions of rogue taxis.

He added: "Operations to catch these pirates have been few and far between. We are of the opinion that the council's failure to take proper action against offenders for long periods has created this problem.

"We believe a better proposal would be for the council to run high-visibility enforcement operations, supported by the police. This accompanied by advertising the location of all the town centre operators would, we believe, be far more effective."

Between 1.30am and 3.30am at weekends, up to 2,000 people can be in Darwen Street at any one time, looking for food from the area's many takeaways and a ride home.

But, according to council bosses and police, because there are only two private hire firms - Silverline and Golden Line - in the street, it can take up to two hours to get a taxi. They believe frustration at this situation causes the violence.

Since April, some 171 crimes have been recorded in the area, the majority being fights and public order offences.

So they have invited other private hire firms to queue up at the top of Darwen Street to help meet the demand for taxis. The road will be closed to all vehicles except taxis to allow them to queue.

If the scheme is successful this weekend, it will become standard practice.

i cant see this working at all.

there was talk about plymouth trying this floating around this week. but i cant see how it would help at all. Surely any private hire company worth working for is going to be booked solid during those peak hours anyway, so how are they going to be able to stop for flaggers as well. the operators are not going to like it as they could end up losing customers in the long run as their greedy drivers will be calling in no fares for the booked jobs and picking up flaggers instead.

seen it all before with the HC lads who also do PHV work down here.

I've been saying this for many years till I'm blue in the face "MAKE THE TAKEAWAYS CLOSE EARLY", you won't have the problem then of 2,000 people looking for food in the early hours. You can have 1,000 taxis parked on a busy street, people will go home when they are ready. Is this the street they are on about?

What's that then? A picture of chuck-out time in Mansfield.

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IDFIMH

Nah it's worse than that in Mansfield.

I don't know Blackburn at all, but I think some questions need to be asked before a solution can be found.

1. Has Darwin St always been accessible to taxis?
2. We know there are 2 PH offices there but has there been a rank?
3. How long had people previously HAD to wait for a taxi around this area, counting people waiting for a kebab doesn't really count?
4. An admission was made that people don't always make their way straight home, with the lads looking for "the one" to walk passed, is it not also fair to say that some of the lads are there looking for a fight, and when they see another bloke walking with a girl they believe are their "one" more trouble is more likely?

I agree with SteveO, this initiative may reduce waiting times for taxis but it will not reduce violent crime ......... that is an area to which the Police have to accept responsibility ........ as everyone else though it seems they are looking to blame everyone possible before admitting they don't police this area as well as they should.

I drive PH and wouldn't have time to pick up flaggers on a weekend, but there again I work from a good office which provides me with enough work, nearly every shift I work.

Quite right, but the sooner we can get the good folk home, the less chance they have of getting hurt by the scum.

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IDFIMH

How do you differentiate between good folk and scum?

The office I work from has good walk in trade, especially over the weekend. If we have trouble at our office its because someone thinks they are in front of someone in the queue. This is the case at taxiranks also, the recent case of the Scottish footballer proves this.

Our office has a "doorman" who makes sure the next person in the queue gets into the next car, trouble at the door has been dramatically reduced. (BTW this bloke is in his sixties and dosn't dress like a penguin).

I suppose the bottom line here is that the Taxi trade cannot be held at fault for any unsociable behaviour, to many times we are actually the victims of it.
The solution is in the hands of the Police, they should watch the streets instead of the girls.

In the same way as we all do now.

However the issue isn't between the good and the bad, it's the quicker we get all people off the streets, the better.

Thus if we pick up the bad first, then the good have less chance of being set upon. But if we pick up the good first, then the bad only have one another to fight.

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IDFIMH