Taxi Driver Online

Angry cabbies bring city traffic to a halt

TAXI drivers brought Swansea city centre to a standstill yesterday.

Around 90 cabs took part in the protest ahead of a Swansea Council meeting tomorrow which is expected to reject calls to limit the number of hackney carriages in the city.

The drivers say there are already too many cabs.
They are calling for a vote of no confidence in environment cabinet member John Hague.

Swansea Hackney Owners and Drivers Association chairman Mark Davies said: "All this stems from a decision the council has been asked to make about limiting the number of hackney carriages.

"There are 386 hackney carriages in Swansea, but only 32 rank spaces. Section seven of the hackney carriage bylaw states we must work from a rank, but 350 have nowhere to go."

To help the council come to a decision, a survey, conducted by Halcrow, was undertaken.

The survey concluded: "The 2008 study has identified that there is no evidence of significant unmet demand for hackney carriages in Swansea.
"Demand is heavily skewed towards the late-night market. Only 51 per cent of licensed hackneys were observed on the ranks in the daytime."
However, despite the conclusion, it has been recommended councillors vote not to restrict the number of cabs, much to the anger of Mr Davies and his colleagues, who have called for a vote of no confidence in Councillor Hague.

Mr Davies said: "We have no confidence at all in Mr Hague as executive member or the taxi licensing division of Swansea Council.

"We feel it necessary to demonstrate how unrealistic it is to expect 386 cars to work from 32 rank spaces.

"This is not a strike, this is us doing what the council tell us to do.
"We hope it won't be necessary to continue this throughout the Christmas period, knowing that the retail outlets are facing difficult times."

Disgruntled cabbies mounted a protest on the streets of the city late yesterday afternoon.

A convoy of cabs toured the streets, adding to congestion in the already busy city centre.

They wanted to highlight the fact that there are insufficient spaces on taxi ranks to cater for the current number of licensed cabs, let alone an expanded fleet of vehicles.

Mark Davies said: "The law says we have to work from a rank, but there aren't enough rank spaces available.

"We are permitted to drive around looking for work, but if we all do that it can create congestion.

"This is, effectively, a work to rule."

Councillor Hague said: "I am not willing to comment on this until after tomorrow's debate."

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