Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers consider blockade

TAXI drivers could resurrect plans to blockade an Essex town after traffic chiefs ignored pleas to allow access to a central road. The drivers claim a newly pedestrianised road in Clacton has caused them to lose business and last month Tendring Taxi Drivers' Association threatened to blockade the seaside town in protest.

The action was shelved after Essex County Council and Tendring District Council agreed to discuss the venture and the possibility of allowing taxi drivers to use Pier Avenue. But both councils have decided taxis should still not be allowed down the road between 10am and 4pm.

The TDA will now decide the best way to highlight their opposition to the decision. Vice chairman of the TDA, Alan Kirkham, 50, said: “All we want is Pier Avenue open so we can drive through. It's crazy. “We have to drive right round town which is costing customers money and also discriminating against the elderly and disabled.”

Passengers currently getting a taxi to Pier Avenue are being dropped off at the end of the road and having to walk the rest of the journey. Mr Kirkham added: “The idea (of a taxi) is to go from where you are to where you want to go, not half way up the road.”

Traffic in Clacton could grind to a halt as up to 100 taxis may take part if the blockade is given the green light. Mr Kirkham who is also a partner in Phoenix Taxis in Clacton and a member of the Chamber of Trade, said the changes were affecting more than just drivers.

He said: “The whole town is suffering as well. The idea is to get business into the town but there are shops on Pier Avenue which are empty and some are closing. “We don't want to have a blockade but feel it might be the best way to draw attention to the problem.”

But a joint statement from the authorities continued to support the controversial restriction. “The scheme has to be viewed from both the highways perspective with regard to safety, and also the objectives of the environmental improvements, one of which was to make Pier Avenue central more pedestrian friendly. “At any point in the town centre people are only a short walking distance of a taxi rank.”

The statement also outlines how the councils agree “not to change the current restriction at this stage” and although the scheme is being monitored on a daily basis a review of the situation will not take place until the end of October at the earliest.

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