'Someone could be attacked now taxi rank's gone' - cabbies protest over changes to Horseshoe CommonCABBIES fear someone could be attacked following changes to the taxi rank layout in central Bournemouth.
Yesterday afternoon around 50 taxi drivers gathered on Old Christchurch Road – opposite Horseshoe Common where a taxi rank was recently removed as part of a council ‘street improvement’ scheme – to protest against its removal.
The drivers claim the failure to install a rank close to so many nightclubs, and the night time closures which prevent them from accessing the road on Friday and Saturday, put drunken revellers, disabled people and residents at risk and inconvenience.
Bob Rayner, who has worked in the town as a cab driver for 34 years, said it means people now have to walk almost five minutes to the top of the road at the Lansdowne to hail a taxi.
“Every town and city throughout the country – the night time economy is very dangerous,” he added. “Let me warn you and the public – somebody is going to be attacked. It is waiting to happen.”
Another angry driver, Barry Jones, said: “It is all private cars and no taxis. The busiest area in Bournemouth – and they don’t want taxis. In Poole you have taxis right down by the Quay and in Christchurch you have taxis right outside the clubs.
“The police often ask us to take the troublemakers away in our taxis – we are not doing it now.
“There are five taxi ranks at the Lansdowne and one club open up there. The main business is down here [near Horseshoe Common] – there are none down here.”
Robert Hadley, a driver in the town for 15 years, claimed taxis are being targeted at night with parking tickets by police, but private hire vehicles and residents are not.
“The girls working in Wiggle and For Your Eyes Only used to come out of work and go straight to a cab, but now there is nothing,” he said.
Fellow driver Mohammed Abbou added: “Is it is safe for a young woman to be walking five minutes up to a taxi rank in the middle of the night?”
The group have set up an online petition, which can be found at gopetition.com/petitions/bring-down-the-barriers.html.
Neighbourhood Inspector Heather Dixey, of Bournemouth Central Police, said: “We are supportive of the council’s decision in their vision for the regeneration of the Horseshoe Common area, which aims to make the area safer for the public.
“Where offences are committed by people who have no authority to enter the closed areas action will be taken against them, where appropriate.”
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1 ... angers___/
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