Taxi drivers given parking tickets for 'over-ranking'
TAXI drivers have been picking up more than fares in a city centre rank – after police dished out 30 parking fines to them.
The move came as officers targeted the "hotspot for the obstruction of vehicles" in St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, issuing the tickets to taxis for "over-ranking".
They were acting after a meeting of Cambridge City West's neighbourhood policing panel in August, where residents asked officers to make the move a priority.
Joint patrols were carried out in the evening peak times with Legion Parking wardens. There were 72 prosecutions of motorists and 104 fines dished out to cyclists.
Taxi drivers have previously threatened to bring gridlock to the city because of a shortage of taxi ranks.
Karl Stamper, a committee member of Cambridge City Licensed Taxis, said: "This problem has been ongoing and until the city council do what 45 per cent of other local authorities do and limit the number of taxis, the problem won't go away.
"There are 316 taxis in Cambridge and only 36 spaces. There is a slow build-up in numbers which will make this sort of chaos only get worse until the council do something."
The difficulties of taxi drivers at the rank came to a head earlier this year.
As the News reported, a driver dragged a police officer along the street when he pulled away.
Pc Steve Hinks had tried to stop Fazlollah Khoshmanesh moving off but his hand got stuck in a door handle, forcing him to run alongside until he could free it. Khoshmanesh, 59, of Harding Way, Cambridge, was sentenced by city magistrates to 120 hours of unpaid community work in September.
He was also convicted of failing to stop when required by a constable, wilful obstruction of a highway and obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty.
He denied all charges arising from the incident, which happened when he was illegally parked near the rank in St Andrew's Street, Cambridge.
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