City cabbies furious
TRAINS may be running for tonight’s Six Nations opener, but now cabbies have been left fuming after Cardiff’s busiest taxi rank was closed for the rugby.
Drivers say they have lost up to 70% of their fares this week after the rank at Cardiff Central station was shut on Tuesday to make way for a new temporary canopy system.
The canopies, paid for by the Assembly Government and Arriva Trains Wales, were erected to keep rugby fans sheltered while queuing after the Wales-England match.
Only five cabs have been permitted to enter the rank at any one time since the rank was closed on Tuesday morning.
Taxi drivers, however, say they were never consulted over the scheme and say no alternative rank was provided by the organisers.
The secretary of the Cardiff Hackney Carriage Association, Avril Mumford, has quit over the feud, according to the association’s chairman Mathab Khan.
Mr Khan said drivers were so angry with the authorities that some had suggested holding a strike to coincide with today’s Millennium Stadium match – just days after industrial action was called off by Arriva Trains Wales drivers.
“A lot of drivers have been telling me we should go on strike because they are so frustrated,” he said.
“But the rugby is an opportunity for drivers to make money and we don’t want to cause disruption for our passengers on a day when Cardiff will be flooded with people.”
Mr Khan said the lack of consultation was a “kick in the teeth” to hard-working drivers, some of whom will lose £300 in takings this week.
An Arriva spokeswoman said the rail firm had been in discussion with Cardiff council since January 25 about the scheme.
An Assembly Government spokesman said the installation and location of the shelter was a matter for Arriva and Cardiff council. Cardiff council declined to comment as it was an Arriva and Assembly Government initiative.
source:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... 011/02/04/
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