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Taxi drivers' fury as New Street Station rank has space for only 11 cabs
"They have spent £600 million on this station, but I doubt £10 has been spent thinking about where the taxis are going to go"
Taxi drivers claim the £600 million redevelopment of New Street Station has left them out in the cold – by forcing them to park hundreds of yards away from passengers.
A temporary rank has been created across the road from the station in Navigation Street, but with spaces for just 11 cabs.
As a result up to 200 other Hackney Carriages are being forced to pay 60p a time to park up in a ‘holing pen’ in Hill Street car park until spaces become available – more than 400 yards away.
Taxi bosses have now hit out at the scheme which they claim is losing them customers – and creating gridlock around the city centre station.
They have launched a petition demanding more pick-up points for cabbies, who say they are losing up to £40 per day because of the changes.
Ivan Boon, liaison officer for TOA Taxis, said: “There’s a simple lack of parking places for cars to feed the ranks.
“They have spent £600 million on this station, but I doubt £10 has been spent thinking about where the taxis are going to go.
‘‘The cabs are almost as important as the trains, because people need them to get where they are going, but we seem to be an after-thought when they were planning the changes.
“It’s all very well having a fantastic development with all the bright lights, but when the passenger arrives from London or Manchester all they will remember is the struggle they had, probably standing in the pouring rain, to get a cab.”
Driver Zahid Qureshi said: “We are having a really big problem. The entrance is in a different place. Taxis have to park really far away so they cannot pick up passengers when it’s busy.”
Demand for taxis is greatest in the morning when hundreds of cabbies jostle for position to meet wealthy Londoners arriving on the 10.30am from Euston – dubbed the “magic train” by taxi operators.
A spokesman for Network Rail said that they had held many meetings with cab driver representatives to plan the changes. He said that an overspill car park had been provided on Hill Street.
“We are only part way through the development and are working in a constrained space. When the development is finished the taxis will be moved back.
“We are half way through, with major construction work ongoing until final completion in 2015.
‘‘As a result there are some temporary measures in place for taxis which we consulted on and agreed with the city taxi associations and Birmingham City Council, prior to the switchover on 28 April.
‘‘The system is in early operation and we are monitoring it closely to ensure it operates smoothly for both drivers and passengers.”
TAXI DRIVERS HAVE THEIR SAY:
Cabbie Tasaddaq Hussain has started a petition calling for a pick-up point WITHIN the station and for more ranks to be opened in the city.
It has gathered more than 200 supporters in just three days.
Mr Hussain, aged 58 and from Smethwick, said: “Customers are complaining that they need a pick-up point within the station.
“There are only 11 spaces for taxis and from 8pm to 11pm it is just a mess on the roads and there are people queuing for taxis for 500 to 700 yards.
“We have requested a sheltered pick-up area; some people have mobility issues, some have pushchairs or heavy bags and they have to walk to get to us. It’s also not safe for people to wait at night.
‘‘The rank at Corporation Street has been used for more than 100 years. More and more ranks are being shut down – around 60 have been closed to us across the city.’’
Fellow driver Zahid Alishah, 62 and from Erding-ton, said: “It’s chaos. We have lost a lot of customers because the ranks have closed on Corporation Street and the Queensway.
“People are walking and getting buses because there are no ranks.
‘‘We have to go to a car park on Hill Street, yet it isn’t big enough and we have to queue to get in it. They charge us 60p to use that car park, which we can’t claim back from customers.”
Cabbie Ansar Hussain, 56 and from Handsworth, said: “We are all suffering here.
“I have been in the trade for 32 years and this year and the last year have been the worst in the business.
“The council aren’t bothered about helping us at all.”
Gulbahra Khan, 52 and from Erdington, has been a taxi driver for 35 years. He said: “All of the drivers are losing between £30 and £40 every day.
“The rank should be inside the station and we shouldn’t have to pay 60p for the car park each time because we lose that straight away.”
Taxi driver of 22 years Mohammed Akram, 48, from Smethwick, said: “They have only given us 11 spaces for taxis for one of the busiest stations in the country.
“We have to travel over 500 yards to get here from the car park and when we do get here, other drivers have already taken the customer.
“It is a terrible situation.”
Brendon Albas, 55 and from Great Barr, has been driving taxis for 30 years. He said: “I think it was unnecessary to exclude us from picking people up inside the station. It has been closed for 10 months and there hasn’t been any work done in that area.”
The hoax warning left on a bike at New Street Station The hoax warning left on a bike at New Street Station
* Jokers told a cyclist his or her bike was too scruffy to be left at Birmingham’s revamped New Street station.
A sign was spotted attached to a “muddy and old” machine asking the owner to take it away within 48 hours as “its condition is not an image we want our station to portray”.
The note, on Network Rail headed paper, continued: “When you see fit to get yourself a bicycle in reasonable condition we will gladly welcome you back.”
But the company insisted the message was a hoax.
A spokesman said: “Cyclists with bicycles of all shapes and sizes are welcome to use the new temporary cycle storage facilities at New Street station.”
Network Rail has already been condemned by bikers for moving cycle stands down an alleyway.
The company said cyclists would benefit from “improved lighting, security and accessibility” by 2015.
Cycle storage facilities at the revamped Birmingham New Street station have been branded a “disgrace” by riders – and Birmingham peer Lord Hunt of Kings Heath .
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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