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Essex Chronicle
June 28, 2007 Thursday
Taxi driver strike threat
Strike action could be threatened by taxi drivers worried over a lack of safeguards for the future of their business.
Chairman of Chelmsford Taxi Association John Kane blames the borough council for a downturn in the quality of the town's taxi service.
A taxi driver for 10 years Mr Kane said the number of licences being issued by the council is unsustainable and claimed some vehicles are breaking the law in an effort to make ends meet.
Chelmsford has 127 licensed taxi drivers with Chelmsford Taxi Association members making up 110 of them.
He added not enough support was being provided for the current stable of taxi drivers and a lack of taxi ranks was fuelling the illegal practice of private hire vehicles picking people up off the street.
He said public confidence has to be restored and predicts increasing amounts of unrest among the taxi driving community.
He said: "We are not far off breaking point. I would personally like us all to pull out of the town for a day. It is something we have to think about."
The threat comes after complaints of overcharging on standard fares and long distance jobs, of people being locked in vehicles and met with threatening demands for money and small fares being refused.
Mr Kane added an increasing number of drivers have an unacceptably poor road knowledge of the area.
He said: "There is nowhere near enough work for 127 Hackney Carriage drivers in Chelmsford, let alone any more that filter their way out in the coming months. Simple desire or requirement to earn enough money has pushed people to bend or break the rules.
"Overcharging and refusing small fares in the hope of landing a big job brings unrest to the rest of the taxi fleet, as smaller less desirable jobs are passed back to correctly operating taxi drivers.
"We are more than happy to accept controlled monitored growth as we have done for the past decade. That is sensible and what the business requires."
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