Taxi Driver Online

Rain causes a problem for taxi marshals

Norwich's new late night taxi marshalling scheme has been hailed a huge success after just three weeks in operation - however bosses need to find a way to stop if from falling foul of the rain.

Last weekend the scheme was a wash-out due to the heavy rain with nowhere for revellers to shelter as they queued for marshals to usher them into taxis and take them home.

And now urgent talks are set to take place to find a suitable site where clubbers can stay out of the rain and where the tickets for taxis can be written out without them turning into a soggy mess.

The six-month trial marshalling scheme, which is designed to make people feel safer in the city, started last month and operates in Tombland - with the top of the queue outside the Ha Ha Bar and Canteen - between 10pm and 3am on a Friday and Saturday night.

It was set up by Norwich City Council and the City Centre Licensing Forum together with the marshalling companies.

Julian Foster, chairman of the City Centre Licensing Forum, said: “The report I got from last week was that it was a wash-out as soon as the rain came.

“There was nowhere for the people to shelter and you cannot obviously get them to queue up in the rain. We assumed that they could use the bus stop at Tombland as shelter but it was not big enough. And the tickets could not be written out in the rain.

“I am therefore emailing all the partners to meet next week to discuss it and to resolve this problem.

“We need to find some sort of shelter and somewhere to put it. My understanding is that, as a temporary measure, there might be a market stall available. We could also maybe lease one of the city council's normal bus shelters.

“The scheme's been such a huge success, attracting more than 400 clients in the first two nights, we intend to extend it from Tombland to Prince of Wales Road and Riverside, with a shelter, hopefully, near Mercy nightclub in Prince of Wales Road.”

The scheme was set up to increase the safety of passengers by giving them a dedicated marshalled pick-up, speed up the queues by having lots of taxis all in one place and reduce crowds of people in other areas of the city.

The launch of the scheme came just weeks after the death of 45-year-old Hertfordshire man Frank McGarahan, who died after a fracas in the city centre in September.

Last month The Evening News reported that taxi boss Mark Streeter, the owner of Courtesy Taxis, based in Whiffler Road, Norwich, plans to open an office close to the heart of the city's club land to provide a safe haven for youngsters waiting to get a taxi home. He has applied for a change of use from offices to a taxi firm at an empty building in Prince of Wales Road.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Put them in a line and tell them the more orderly the rank the more chance there is that drivers will pick them up.

Of course I'm led to believe that someone has invented the umbrella and the coat.

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IDFIMH

Now that marshals are becoming more common, does that mean that there is the chance that punter prerogative could go out of the window when taking a cab from a rank and they must take the first one every time????????

I have seen them queue for up to two hours down here on special occasions - persisting down with rain and no tickets to say where you are in the taxi order - soft southerners I do not think so!

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

It's not a case of "Soft Southerners dont like getting wet",
it's just that rain washes out my Grecian 2000...

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Charlton's lost past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFKWGlrze0
London's future? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rants.html

whens that then in cardiff?

when wales win the rygbi bach?...


hang on, when DOESNT it rain in wales?...

Two out of three the middle bit does not always happen

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

They're Northerners.

you rarely see a car in wales fitted with a SUNroof do you

and as for convertibles....well....

What's wrong with taking the first person in the queue, they've still gotta get home or are you suggesting that taxi drivers should still be able to 'cherry pick' their fares. You're for hire, they want to hire you and providing they're not obviously unsuitable I don't see a problem

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Do you actually go out and work off of a rank? It is common place for punters to ignore the first or any taxi near the front of a rank so that they can go with a particular company or driver.

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Grandad,

Thankfully that is not the case here.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Nor here

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Nor here.

(Except the directional ranks that operate at night)