Taxi Driver Online

Warning for warring Alexandria taxi companies



LICENSING chiefs have ordered warring taxi companies to reach a formal agreement about their cab ranks.

Drivers from rival companies have been rowing over ownership of ranks and this resulted in a fight earlier this year.

Wright’s Taxis driver John Neeson punched Brian Rainey, of TOA Taxis, in an argument over the rank at Morrisons supermarket in Dumbarton.

This led to TOA drivers staging a mass protest by sitting at the rank directly outside the Wright’s Taxis office in Alexandria.

There have been tensions for the past year since drivers left TOA and joined Wright’s, while others left to form Co-op Taxis in Alexandria.

The fight between John Neeson and Brian Rainey was discussed at West Dunbartonshire Council’s licensing committee last Tuesday and councillors expressed concerns that the problems could escalate.

Dumbarton Councillor Geoff Calvert said: “We all live in the local area. We all know there’s no love lost between both organisations.

“At the moment there’s antagonism. The worry is that what started out as handbags will spill over into something more serious.

“Are we going to start getting taxis torched? Are we going to see vandalism?”

John Watters, who represented TOA Taxis at the meeting, responded: “That’s not in our nature.”

Mr Watters argued that local taxi companies had always stuck to a “gentleman’s agreement” by staying out of each other’s ranks.

He also insisted TOA Taxis had exclusive access to the rank at Morrisons because the firm provided the phone line, paid a fee, and a letter from Morrisons was even handed over to the committee to back this up.

However, councillors insisted no company had a legal right to any rank in the area and Mr Watters conceded this.

A warning letter is to be issued to Mr Neeson and Mr Rainey over the fight and their respective firms will be asked to come to some formal agreement on taxi ranks.

Councillor Calvert said: “With regard to the ranks issue, it’s not for me to determine. But we know the situation is a red rag to a bull and, until that’s sorted out between the organisations, there’s potential for trouble.”

http://www.lennoxherald.co.uk/dunbarton ... -29946779/

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