Station Ban Upsets Taxi Drivers
4th September 2008
Taxi drivers have warned town centre traffic could be left gridlocked following their "ban" from parking at Northampton railway station.
Until new rules came into force this week, cab drivers had been allowed to stop in the station's car park until space became available on the taxi rank.
But train company London Midland, which took over the management of the station from Silverlink last year, has since insisted only 12 taxis at a time can use the station.
The firm has said other drivers can park in side streets close to the station and pull in when there is space in the rank.
But the chairman of the Northampton Hackney Carriage Association, Joe Matthews, insisted the change would cause serious problems in the town centre.
He said: "We have to pay for the privilege to ply for hire at the station and about 70 cabbies work from there now.
"But for some strange reason, the station's management have said we can only have 12 drivers in there at a time now.
"That would mean the town centre would be filled with taxis.
"The last thing we want is people queuing in the rain at the railway station because there aren't enough taxis there.
"There's no logical reason behind it, it will just cause real problems."
London Midland has defended the move, claiming taxi drivers who parked in public spaces caused problems for passengers.
Company spokesman, Matt Hurst, said: "When we took over the station, we increased the number of spaces on the rank from eight to 12 and we've now started enforcing that, which I think is what the problem is for the taxi drivers.
"Before then, as well as parking in the rank, the drivers also parked in other spaces in the car park, so sometimes the over-full car park caused problems.
"There were so many taxis trying to use the place it inconvenienced our passengers."
The company has said it is willing to hold talks with the taxi drivers about the issue.
Source; Northampton Chronicle & Echo
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