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November 3, 2007 Saturday
New system sparks taxi problems
Craven Herald
Fears that a new system of queuing for taxis in Skipton's bus station car park would cause tension among the ranks have been proved right.
Bollards were put in place in the taxi waiting area between the Westgate store and the bus station on Saturday to encourage fairness and create some order in the car park.
The protocol is for the first taxi in line to take the first fare and others move forward when it drives off.
But already there has been ill-feeling among drivers over the new system with some taxis not complying with the new rules.
Several people voiced concern when the original proposals were put forward. They said customers loyal to a particular firm would not necessarily want to choose the first taxi in line.
Problems have now occurred when a taxi waiting in second place in the rank has been chosen and the first taxi has refused to move forward to let him out.
Similar stand-offs have occurred when the taxi in the middle has been radioed for a call-out.
Dennis Hall, who works for Dalesman Taxis, said problems occurred within the first few days of the system being used.
"One of our drivers was sitting in the rank in second place and received a radio call-out. The driver in the taxi in front refused to move so he had to wait until the first one got a pick-up and drove off before he could respond to his call. This has happened at least twice in the first two days.
"It is clearly going to cause delays and problems," he said.
Gary Bowyer, Craven District Council's licensing manager, said he was aware of the problems and had been monitoring the new system this week. I've been down to the rank each day and have spoken to some of the taxi drivers because I have seen one or two incidents occurring.
"The whole idea of the system is to make it fairer for all the hackney cabs and private hire taxis which use the rank to do business. The idea is to educate the drivers and the public to get into the first car in the line. We did say we would closely monitor the new system and we have.
"What seems to be happening needs to be nipped in the bud and this is what we are doing by going down there regularly," said Mr Bowyer.
The district council has said it respects people's freedom of choice and says if someone does not want to use the first taxi in the line, they can always wait for the one they want to become available or phone for a private hire cab.
Lindsey Quinn, head of environmental health with the district council, added: "What we hope will happen is that all the drivers work together and follow a code of conduct. If a member of the public approaches a taxi that is not the first in line, we would hope the driver would tell that person to go to the front car.
"For those taxis who receive radio calls, if they are parked further down the line where there are no bollards they will be able to pull straight out, while we hope that those who are in the middle of the rank are allowed to pull out," she said.
Mrs Quinn also responded to complaints they had received from the public after some taxi drivers at the front of the queue refused to carry out short journeys because they would have to join the queue again within a short space of time.
"We are asking them, as a matter of fairness to all, to take these fares so that the system runs smoothly," she said.
The district council said it would continue to monitor the situation closely and the new system will be discussed at the next meeting of the Taxi Liaison Committee in December.
However, if problems persisted, the meeting would be brought forward.
A new CCTV system is due to be installed at the bus station within a couple of weeks which will monitor the rank.
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