Taxi Driver Online

Dundee taxi drivers demand: ‘use our £45,000 for marshals, or give it back’


Cab drivers are accusing Dundee City Council of “sitting” on £45,000 set aside for employing marshals at a taxi rank.

In March, the council’s licensing committee voted to introduce the stewards outside the Grosvenor Casino on Marketgait, but eight months later they have still not appeared — despite taxi drivers each paying £30 towards the service.

Stuart Elder, president of the GMB Dundee WAV (wheelchair-accessible vehicles) Taxi Branch said: “It’s now November and there’s still no sign of the marshals.

“We are going to give our members back the money.”

The trade union branch recently took a vote on the issue and has decided to reimburse its members for the time being.

Stuart said: “The GMB demands that the council introduce these marshals with immediate effect if it is a real public safety concern, otherwise they should reimburse every taxi driver in Dundee.

“We will repay the £30 to every GMB member to help but we must work with the council and Police Scotland to come up with a better long-term plan about how we deal with this.”

A cab enforcement unit is already in place in the city, which allows certain members of Police Scotland’s Tayside Division to stop taxis in transit or carry out checks of stationary vehicles at taxi ranks.

Because of this, the GMB has previously contested the idea that marshals are necessary.

“Our members have always found the fee unfair and can’t understand why they have to pay it,” said Stuart.

“Every taxi driver already pays Police Scotland through annual fees to ensure taxi drivers are doing what they should be doing and not causing any public safety concerns. Yet we now have to also pay for two marshals.”

Drew Duffy, GMB organiser, also laid out the union’s stance and called on the council to use or lose the money.

He said: “The GMB Dundee WAV Branch has given up its entire budget to reimburse these fees. Dundee City Council must get the marshals in place immediately or pay the estimated £45,000 they have sitting in their bank account back to taxi drivers.”

A Dundee City Council spokeswoman said: “We are currently going through the recruitment process.”

source http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... k-1.678972

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

This a "Law and Order" issue. I cannot understand taxi drivers or for that matter anyone paying for what we already pay for i.e Policing.

Think about this scenario: If your or my local area all of a sudden became a hive for criminal activity/lawlessness, would you expect to pay more than the people living in the next street for a problem that you did not cause, to then have to pay for what is no more than alternative policing?

The problems are caused by; 1) Police passing the buck as they did to traffic wardens i.e "We do not want to do this".
2) Soft policing
3) Soft sentencing
4) Alcohol
5) Drugs
6) Probably other anti social issues not mentioned.

This is a police issue, they do not want to do it even though it is a policing issue. I would also guess that it helps their budget to have others pay to do their job!!!

Taxi drivers are responsible for NONE of the above - so why pay?

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Common sense........is just not that Common.