Basildon cabbies unite to fight yellow lines
Drive for change – Rob Bennett (Allied), Dave Downton (Allied), Mark Langford (AMB) and Asa Oddy (Wickford Taxis) want to be allowed to drop passengers off on double yellow lines
TAXI drivers are campaigning for cabs to be allowed to drop passengers off on double yellow lines.
Cabbies across Basildon borough have joined forces to launch a petition asking not to be fined when they are dropping off vulnerable and elderly customers in restricted areas.
The drivers say they are sometimes forced to leave passengers, such as pensioners and mums with pushchairs, long distances from their destination to avoid getting caught in no-stopping zones.
Some have been fined by a spy car while dropping people off.
The CCTV spy vehicle is run by the South Essex Parking Partnership, which controls parking in the area on behalf of local councils, and records and fines people parked illegally.
In London, cabbies are exempt from rules banning people from temporarily parking on double yellow lines. That allows the cabbies to drop passengers outside their destination.
The Basildon drivers want the same exemptions and have started a petition calling for the Partnership to change the rules.
Jan Wedding, manager of Wickford-based Allied Taxis, said her firm had been fined three or four times.
She said: “It’s absurd. How are we supposed to build a customer relationship like this?”
Will Hagan, owner of Brown’s Taxis, in Wickford, said: “We must get nicked once a month, It’s getting ridiculous.”
Asa Oddy, co-manager at Wickford Taxis, said: “Wickford is a town with many elderly people and four-fifths of the High Street has double yellow lines.
“I was fined for stopping to let an elderly person off at Barclays, in the High Street.
“I was helping them get out of the car and get their trolley and shopping out the boot and I was nicked.”
Dave Neville, head of the Basildon Private Hire Association, said: “They keep on zapping us right, left and centre.
“We had a case where a disabled woman needed help getting out of the taxi.
“Our driver helped and was zapped.”
Basildon Council leader Tony Ball supports the taxi drivers, saying: “It’s a problem, particularly in Wickford.
“We have written to the Partnership, but it’s fallen on deaf ears.”
A spokesman for the Partnership said restrictions were put in place to avoid congestion and ensure safety.
He said: “It is the motorist’s responsibility to park in a legal parking place for the purposes of picking up and dropping off passengers.
“The taxi drivers have been advised of the process they need to go through if they wish to see the restrictions in this area reviewed.”
source: http://www.brentwoodweeklynews.co.uk/ne ... low_peril/