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regards

Captain Cab

Cabbies promise rank move fight
by Katie Emslie


ANGRY: Taxi driver Bill Brolly, outside York Railway Station

ANGRY taxi drivers are planning to challenge a decision by council chiefs to remove a taxi rank at York Railway Station.

A public notice from City of York Council printed in Tuesday's Evening Press announced that the Hackney Carriage status of the six-taxi stand on the central isle of Station Road would be revoked.

The rank is additional to the taxi rank underneath the station portico, directly in front of the station building.

Removing the taxi stand is part of ongoing plans for a £636,000 revamp of the station frontage.

Independent taxi driver Bill Brolly, who has driven taxis in York for 20 years, said he and his fellow taxi drivers operating from the central stand would fight the decision.

He said: "We will be fighting this all the way because we need this taxi rank outside the station. If we can't pick up people from there anymore, we will lose a lot of money in lost fares."

Mr Brolly, 57, dismissed any suggestion that the central rank posed a danger to people crossing the road to get a taxi.

He said: "People tend to wave from the pavement at the bus stops on either side of the rank and we pick them up from there.

"In all the years I've worked that stand, there hasn't been a safety problem with it."

The taxi drivers would be consulting with their union, the GMB Union, on how to combat the council's plans, said Mr Brolly, who is himself a union representative.

Fellow union representative Len Bardy, who has worked as a taxi driver in York for the past five years, agreed that losing the taxi rank would lose him business.

He said: "It feels like we have been shot in the foot. It will be total chaos at the station once this happens."

But a City of York Council spokeswoman said: "We don't yet know when the taxi rank will be removed. The revocation is as a direct result of the scheme to improve York station frontage, which deals with a range of improvements to bus stop facilities, pedestrian crossings, cycling and access to the railway station."

She said the council was in talks with GNER about an idea to have taxis queuing in the GNER long stay car park before funnelling into the portico.

But Mr Brolly said that plan was flawed.

He said: "As I understand it, there won't be any spaces permanently reserved for taxis in the long stay car park. If we can't get a space, we'll have to move on and will miss out on a fare."

The rank in question is a Council rank for 6 vehicles, the rank inside the Station Portico is a GNER taxi rank for 12 vehicles. The main purpose that the rank in question is used for, to which is in the middle of a carriage way, is a FEEDER rank

When the rank is full in the GNER rank, you have to go through the Portico, chalk up on a chalk board your cab number [illegal practice but it is GNER] then proceed to the rank in question, if thats full you just park on double yellows or anywhere you can find a space outside, feed in when space allows

This saga, railway stn/ York council has been going on for a few years, GNER have offered 2 rank spaces on there land on their long stay car park
There is available land know as Tea Room Square, next to the Royal York Hotel just outside the Portico. This land is Council owned, Council maintained, but used by GNER as a short term Railway car park, this would have solved all problems for Taxi's

York Railway Stn is a cut and dried situation, permit holders only to accesss ranks. I know the driver in question, re link above, wish him well but me thinks everything is set in stone. He mentions getting jobs from the rank in question, a job in a blue moon, it's a plain and simple feeder rank, if there is such a thing.

Anytime you are in York just come and have a look what goes on, sometimes up to 2 or 300 people rail travellers waiting for up to 2 hours for the limit few taxis to come and pick them up [permit holders] GNER don't care, the Council don't care, remember GNER are big business rate payers, can't upset them can we.

The problems at York Stn will never go away till we are done away with 38 shareholders of York Station Taxis [NOT LONG NOW] then the cab drivers in York together with the public will get a better service

Phew.

A bit more to my last message, it has been on the cards for a number of years, GNER want shops in the York Station Portico, Taxi drivers pays peanuts to what Mcdonalds or similar will pay for shops and units to be there, that bloke/taxi driver on the forum who says "NOT LONG NOW" is maybe right, NOT LONG NOW.

This is York, whata laugh.

Just like Brighton Station.
The lads with the permits look down to those wthout. In then past they even sold the permit for over a grand.
You know what if a watford happened in Brighton. I know I should hate it. But really I would love to see there faces.
It might change thou because a new firm Meteor are taking over. I say make their permits a 1000 each or have a machine to let us all use it.

I'm dead against permits and I'm all for open access but we have to admit that permits are not going to go away overnight. Having said that I totally disagree with the practice of excluding drivers from holding such permits, while a selective few profit from it.

I dropped off at York station a few years ago and from what I can remember they have a small rank area. I think it was a late Sunday night but there were several people waiting for cabs.

We have a barrier system here Manchester, perhaps thats the best solution if you rank up on Railway property. If your not ranking up on Railway property a council rank close by the station shouldn't be a problem or should it?


Best wishes

JD

When Manchester Airport went permit in the early nineties there were a great many who wanted to restrict the permits to the lads who already worked up there. No prizes for guessing who these democratic hero's of our Taxi trade are. Anyway, they didn't get their way. When Pic Station went permit also in the early nineties you had lads running to the station police trying to get those who wouldn't pay for permits removed from the station. Intimidation was rife, both at the airport and picc station.

Your fellow workers can be azzholes when it comes down to permits, for the simple reason that most would rather exclude you, than include you.

Best wishes.

JD