Taxi Driver Online

Hull Daily Mail

September 1, 2006 Friday

HEADLINE: 'Vulture' wardens could drive us out

One of Hull's oldest taxi firms said today the controversial new parking regime could force it out of the city.

Six-O taxis has operated from Subway Street, west Hull, for more than 50 years, operating cars across the city. Now the owners say the city's new traffic wardens, who took over from the police in May, are making drivers' jobs difficult.

Managers say drivers used to have an informal arrangement with wardens, who effectively turned a blind eye to cars waiting for jobs on double yellow lines outside. However, new traffic wardens operated by Vinci Park Ltd are forcing drivers to move on and threatening them with fines.

Co-owner David Smith said: "We are trying to run a business here. We work down a dead-end street and we don't hurt anybody. "The wardens are saying the rules have changed and any old arrangements have gone by the board." Although the firm has a small number of parking spaces, these are often full and drivers sometimes stop for up to 10 minutes waiting for jobs.

Six-O taxis said the new clampdown was costing time and money. Co-owner Shabir Hussain said: "It could cost us up to £10,000 to move. We've just installed a £50,000 computer system.

"All we want is the council to show a bit of understanding and have some leniency. The new wardens are like vultures waiting to issue a ticket." Mr Smith said: "We always had a very good working relationship with the old wardens.

"The new wardens are just being told there's a set of rules and there's no grey area." Under an initial four-year deal, 22 wardens took over from police.

Wearing a distinctive maroon and grey uniform, the wardens work in shifts and cover the city from 7.30am to 10.30pm. Vinci Park predicted it would issue 29,000 tickets in its first 12 months, raising £70,000 for the council.

No one from Hull City Council was available to comment.
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j.collingridge@hdmp.co.uk

Links

Hull City Council

www.hullcc.gov.uk

National Parking Adjudication Service

www.parking-appeals.gov.uk
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Remind me, which other city could these Hull licensed cabs work in then?

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IDFIMH

How can vinci park predict how many tickets they are going to issue?.
They will encourage thier wardens to issue as many as possible, its a buissiness, simple. Its nothing to do with keeping traffic moving.
Pepipoo is an excellent web site to help you fight illegal tickets, and there are thousand's of illegal tickets issued every year and most people don't even bother fighting them. WE have got to fight back, the reason wardens target cab drivers is because they know we can be found.
Make sure you check the tickets as they have to have 2 dates on them, if you get a notice to owner, it must states 28 days from date of service, not 28 days from the date of this letter.
I have fought and won every ticket I have got in the last year.

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stressed controller!!!

Pepido is a good site.

Regards

JD

There are some people on that site who remind me, oh so much, to some folks on here.

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IDFIMH

10 minutes? I suspect the office is just using the street as its own personal car park.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I suspect thats a good observation.

Regards

JD

Hows about a condition of of license requiring the premisis of the operator to have adequate parking for the PHV's on the circuit?

Of course, courtesy of the Gladen judgement, if the firm was HC, it wouldnt need a PH operators license and therefore could circumvent a 'reasonable' condition of PH operators license. (or of course need to keep records, which may help the police with their enquiries and perhaps ensure a decent standard of service....thanks Mr Gladen!)

CC

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