Taxi Driver Online

Bristol cabbies' anger at crackdown on city centre queues

Cabbies in Bristol are furious over council plans to impose tough measures at taxi ranks in the city centre. Marshals have been introduced at ranks in the Centre and Broadmead to control the crowds waiting for a cab on Friday and Saturday nights.

But council officials say the taxis and the large number of people queuing have raised issues of public safety. Cabbies are furious because they say the council has caused the problems and should not be blaming the taxi trade.

Each weekend, an estimated 4,000 revellers pour onto the city centre streets from pubs and clubs looking for a taxi to take them home. The cabs queue on the Centre and five other stands nearby but the Centre queue often extends into the road, blocking traffic.

Some cabbies often make u-turns in the middle of the road to join a rank more quickly than driving around the city centre's one-way systems.

Proposals put before councillors include disciplinary action against cabbies who queue in the road. They would be liable to a written reprimand and made to promise not to contravene the regulations in the future.

Drivers face having their licence suspended or revoked if they failed to make a promise or if it was proven that it had been broken. Talks will now be held between council officials and the taxi trade at a forum on December 16.

Martyn Lawrence, TGWU branch secretary, said: "We acknowledge there is a problem but when you have only six taxi ranks with six vehicles on each stand, it stands to reason you will have issues when thousands of people start pouring onto the streets, looking for a taxi.

"It's the city council which is 100 per cent at fault. They are totally to blame. "They deregulated the trade two years ago which removed the cap on the number of taxis in the city and it has led to chaos.

"The council has washed its hands of any responsibility for the taxi trade and now they are blaming us for the problems. "We won't achieve anything unless the hackney carriages are re-regulated so the number of cabs can be limited."

There are now about 800 cabs operating in Bristol, an increase of about 60 since the cap was lifted in 2007. But this does not take into account the private hire cars and the cabs which come into the city from outlying districts to earn a living by plying for trade at weekends.

Councillor Ron Stone, chairman of the Public Safety and Protection Committee, which is in charge of the licensing department, said they would like to negotiate a solution with the taxi trade instead of introducing tough measures.

He said: "Something needs to be done because we have to recognise the importance of people's safety. "It's in the taxi trade's interests to have ranks which are properly controlled and managed. "If it's going to work, it needs the co-operation of the trade."

Hackney carriages, which can be flagged down in the street, should not be confused with private hire cars which must be pre-booked.

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IDFIMH