Taxi Driver Online

Interesting piece, particularly in view of the Bournemouth incident, although this is more from the passenger's perspective than the trade's.

And I'd guess other news outlets would have done a bit more editing here - it's a tad puffed out and repetitive


Safety concerns raised over Glasgow Airport pick-up fees

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/239 ... k-up-fees/

A FRUSTRATED man who works at Glasgow Airport has raised safety concerns about getting home due to expensive drop-off and pick-up charges.

The furious employee claims that since taxis are being handed fines for dropping punters off at places including the nearby petrol station and hotels, they now have to make an "unsafe" journey out of the area to get a cab.

They say this is due to the airport's £5 pick-up or drop-off fee.

Speaking to the Gazette, the man from Paisley fumed: “The problem is the pick-up and drop-off point because if you’re using that five days a week for work, it’s a lot of money.

“I and other staff are then forced to walk far outside of the airport grounds to get a taxi so that we won’t be charged, and we have to go quite far, and this can be late at night.

“I’m having to go to deserted car parks or deserted streets to wait for a taxi to avoid the charges. It’s actually quite unsafe.

Workers would be paying £200 a month on top of their taxi fares if they were to use the drop-off/pick-up area twice a day, five days a week.

Raising concerns about their safety, the frustrated worker, who is not employed directly by the airport, believes there should be a staff pick-up and drop-off point on the grounds.

“We used to get taxis from the Holiday Inn which we can’t do anymore,” they said.

“We used to then go to the petrol station, which we also can’t do now because apparently loads of taxi drivers were getting fined for picking people up from there.”

We previously reported that Renfrewshire Cab Co issued a warning to customers travelling to Glasgow Airport after they revealed drivers had been hit with fines.

They advised punters travelling to the airport that they must be dropped off at car park two instead of a nearby BP garage or any of the surrounding hotels.

The raging man added: “So, basically, if you want a taxi to take you, you are forced to walk quite far out of the airport territory and it’s just quiet streets in the middle of the night – it’s not particularly safe.

“There’s no CCTV, no nothing.”

The man believes it is “completely unacceptable” for the airport to charge employees travelling to and from work.

They said: “To be honest, it’s just unrealistic to expect people to pay, just for the privilege of being dropped off at work.

“It’s on top of your other charges. I don’t think anybody would be happy to pay that.”

The worker revealed their biggest concern, however, surrounds their safety.

“It affects me in the sense that I’m having to make quite an unsafe journey regularly late at night or earlier in the morning to wherever I can get a taxi from.”

They believe there should be a system where workers are exempt from the charges.

They added: “I think it would be no issue whatsoever for them to have a staff pick up and drop off point or some kind of system where staff can get a taxi to drop them off without paying the fee.

“Public transport for the airport just isn't good enough – the bus to where I live only runs till about 10.30pm and doesn’t start very early either.

“I don’t think it’s fair for taxi drivers either but it’s basically the airport forcing this on people.”

They added: “I just don’t think it’s acceptable for an employer to force people that work there to make unsafe journeys to the middle of nowhere to get taxis.

“If that was any other place, an office or something, it wouldn’t be acceptable.”

Glasgow Airport has urged that the safety of its colleagues is a "top priority".

A spokesperson for the airport said: "The safety of our airport colleagues is always a top priority. Staff car parks and the pathways to and from them are well-illuminated and feature extensive live CCTV coverage linked to our 24-hour control room.

“Staff being dropped off for work should make use of the Long-Stay Car Park, which is free for up to 30 minutes and includes an on-demand shuttle service to take them the short distance to and from the terminal.”

So airport management think staff should get a taxi, and then a shuttle, to get to work?

And something makes me think the member of staff (and the taxi drivers) quoted in the article has thought about this option, but the logistics mean it's better to get dropped/picked up elsewhere.

looking at the maps the long stay is maybe a 10 minute walk from the terminal buildings as opposed to less than 5 mins to the holiday inn. The nearest residential streets don't look that much closer so I am not sure that he has much of an argument other than it's slightly less convenient.

If they put a special pick up and drop off point in I doubt it would be much nearer as it looks like a pretty compact site

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I don't think so, it's money first, second, and third.

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IDFIMH