Angry Chester drivers being fined £70 for dropping off passengers in city centre DRIVERS are furious after having to pay a £70 fine – for dropping passengers off in a city centre street.
A council mobile CCTV van is regularly catching motorists who drop off and pick up passengers in a Bridge Street taxi rank close to shops and restaurants.
On each occasion, a photo is posted to the driver along with a £70 fine, reduced to £35 if paid on time – prompting irate motorists to contact The Chronicle.
Terri Shaw’s husband Ray was caught twice in one recent week after giving his wife a lift to work because she was struggling with a broken toe.
Terri, a mother of two grown-up daughters from Saughall Road, Blacon, can understand illegally parked vehicles being targeted but says on both occasions their car was stationary for less than one minute.
“It’s entrapment,” said Terri, who had to shell out a total of £105. “Effectively I worked two days for nothing.”
Mrs Shaw, a sales assistant in the Wesley-Barrell furniture shop, said it was also ‘a pain’ for customers who could no longer park up for a few minutes to collect small items.
“No wonder all the shops are shutting,” she added. “And what about tourists who don’t know where they’re going?”
Her husband Ray, a supervisor for the Highways Agency, says despite there being signs it is ‘not clear you stand the risk of a fine because it is done by stealth’.
He added: “This is a cash cow for the council. I hate to think how many they have caught.”
Cheshire West and Chester Council spokeswoman Rachel Ashley said the areas targeted by the mobile CCTV scheme were listed on the authority’s website.
She said the Bridge Street location was being policed following complaints from cab drivers.
Mrs Ashley added: “People should not be parking in that area. It’s a taxi rank for members of the public.”
She said the license fee paid by cab drivers entitled them to use of the ranks.
Black cab driver Richard Barker, chairman of Chester Licensed Hackney Association, believes the ‘no stopping’ signs could be bigger but agrees with the measure.
He added: “We used to have major problems down there and we could never use the rank.
“To be fair, parking services have targeted certain ranks including the one by the station because we have had problems there as well.”
source:
http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chest ... -30888766/
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