Taxi Driver Online

Durham taxi drivers' fury over outsiders trading in city


TAXI drivers in an historic city say civic bosses have created “a monster” by allowing outside cabbies in to ply for trade.

Durham County Council deregulated the taxi trade, allowing unlimited numbers of vehicles to operate in the city centre from September 1 – despite cabbies’ leaders warning chaos would ensue.

Residents of Claypath, in Durham, say their lives are being ruined by taxis queuing until the early hours.

Now a taxi boss warned the situation will be even worse over Christmas.

Taxi drivers in the city warned of a “free-for-all” when cabbies from outlying areas were given the go-ahead to ply their trade alongside them after deregulation.

Adrian Fets, chairman of Durham Independent Taxi Drivers’ Association, said: “We said that allowing a free-for-all into the city centre would be a disaster and we have been proved right. There are far too many taxis coming into Durham City from outlying areas which is causing gridlock. The county council has created a monster and it will get worse over the Christmas period. We get taxis into Durham from places like Peterlee, Easington, Stanley and Bishop Auckland.

“These outsiders think there is money to be made in Durham, but the truth is that they have to hang around for two hours to get a single fare. But the extra influx creates queues which are unacceptable to residents, and nobody can blame them.

“Who wants taxis parked outside their homes at midnight? The council has created this monster and doesn’t know what to do.

“At weekends taxis queue from Claypath right up to Hild and Bede College, and it will be worse over the next three weekends.”

Last month the county council’s head of environment, health and consumer protection Joanne Waller said she hoped the introduction of mobile CCTV would help solve some of the problems.

She said: “While the deregulation has certainly solved some previous problems including people having to wait for long periods for a taxi in Durham City and instances of anti-social behaviour, there is more work to do in this area.”

Yesterday Terry Collins, corporate director for neighbourhood services, said: “The council and the police are continuing to work together to monitor the impact of the changes, which should have a positive effect on people visiting our city during this busy time. We hope these changes will help taxi users to leave the city centre with greater ease.”


Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east ... z1gP78XE1n

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yeah get the mobile camera van out and book all those nasty cab drivers for illegal parking.

I hope her next sh*te is a pineapple.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

councillors are always oblivious to the pain and suffering they cause others as a result of their actions and deaf to all protests and reasoned argument to boot

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Using terms like 'outsiders' aint going to endear dear Adrian to his collegues.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

There are two separate issues here - zoning and derestriction - and they should be kept separate.

Four if you include a rather silly council who ignored the warnings and a rather silly cab trade that didnt exactly respond to the consultation with the necessary seriousness.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Except for the fact the council cannot re-zone now huh?

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

All I said is that there are two separate issues, huh?

Why didn't you make that point last night, huh?

Get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, huh?

All I said is that there are two separate issues, huh?

Why didn't you make that point last night, huh?

Get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, huh? [/quote]


I thought the fact they couldn't rezone was fairly obvious......huh?

So all Durham need is a SUD.....over an entire county.....and the law to change.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

My point was simply that the two issues are not the same, but the story conflated the two.

In principle I'm not in favour of restricted numbers , but in principle zoning can be a good idea in large, unwieldy authorities.

Your new signature?

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin