Taxi Driver Online

Derby Evening Telegraph

July 12, 2006 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Plan for marshals in the ranks criticised

BYLINE: SARAH WHELAN

Cabbies in Long Eaton have branded a decision to put guards on the streets to police their taxi ranks "ridiculous".

Erewash Community Safety Partnership, working with Derbyshire police and Erewash Borough Council, will be running a pilot scheme in the town centre on Friday and Saturday nights in a bid to reduce drink- fuelled crime.

The so-called taxi marshals will be approved door supervisors seconded to the two main taxi ranks - on the Market Place and Main Street. But taxi drivers in the town do not believe the marshals are needed.

Richard Lowe, of Central Taxis in Beaconsfield Street, said: "This is Long Eaton, not Nottingham. We don't really have that much trouble. "It's an overreaction. What would be more beneficial would be to have people on the street during the day, stopping motorists parking in the taxi bays."

Malcolm Osbifton, owner of Double Seven Taxis, in Nottingham Road, said: "It's ridiculous, a waste of money. "We are only a town and trouble is nowhere near bad enough to need marshals.

"We already have neighbourhood wardens, community beat officers and police officers. Why do we need anyone else?" Figures released by the community safety partnership show that almost 62 per cent of alcohol-related violent crime in Long Eaton takes place between midnight and 4am on a Saturday and Sunday morning within 100 yards of the taxi ranks.

The same data for Ilkeston showed just 13 per cent of alcohol-related violent crime at the same time in taxi queues. Taxi marshals are used in other towns and cities across the country, including Mansfield, Bristol and Bath. The marshal scheme forms part of Operation Tuscon, a project led by the partnership to combat alcohol-related crime in Erewash. It begins on Friday and will run until September 10.

An extra police sergeant, three more constables and a mobile CCTV unit will be in Long Eaton town centre on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the campaign. Rachel Stone, Erewash community safety officer, said: "We have identified issues and areas in Erewash that we feel would benefit from Operation Tuscon."
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