Taxi Driver Online

Brighton cabbies 'treated with contempt'

Taxi drivers have accused council bosses of treating them with contempt after a city centre cab rank was shortened without telling them. The rank, outside the Old Ship Hotel on Brighton seafront, was closed earlier this year while work was carried out to pavements in the area.

Brighton and Hove City Council has now announced its intention to shorten it through a public notice and opened a 20-day consultation on the proposal. The plans would mean a shorter rank by ten metres, the equivalent of two cabs. But drivers are angry after the rank was painted at the shortened length before the end of the consultation period.

In a letter to the council, Mick Hildreth, from the GMB union, said: "For months this rank has been out of use, costing the Brighton and Hove cab trade many tens of thousands of pounds in lost earnings, yet the first the cab trade hear about putting it back into use is an email, followed by an advert in The Argus telling us the rank is going to be shortened. "What kind of trade consultation is that?

"But to rub salt into a very deep wound two days after the advert appears in The Argus, and about 20 days before the objection period is up, the taxi rank has been painted up already, and guess what, the rank has been shortened. "This whole episode is clear evidence, if any was needed, that your officials treat the cab trade with utter contempt. This really must stop."

Speaking to The Argus, Mr Hildreth added: “It's unacceptable and they cannot do that without going through the correct process.” As well as the letter of complaint, the GMB has also lodged a formal objection to the shortening of the rank.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said in a statement: “No decision on the size of the taxi rank has been made and we are currently carrying out consultation with taxi drivers and other interested parties.”

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IDFIMH

Damn!!! you got 18 foot long cabs up there?

It is probably 2 1/2 cabs but unless you are using Tuk Tuks or smart cars how many people run 1/2 a cab?

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Grandad,