Taxi Driver Online

New rush-hour taxi driver protest as row with the council continues


The Tameside Owners and Drivers Association said they felt they have 'no option' but to protest again - their previous action 10 days ago caused gridlock in Ashton

Taxi drivers in Tameside are staging another protest during tonight’s rush hour.

More than 100 cab drivers are expected to take part in the protest starting at 4pm, starting at Lewis Road, Droylsden , and finishing outside the former council officers on Wellington Road in Ashton claiming the council has left them with ‘no other option’ and is ignoring their complaints.

A previous protest on October 13 caused gridlock in Ashton for several hours .

Jon Vickerstaff, general secretary of Tameside Owners and Drivers Association, acknowledged that the protest will cause delays to commuters travelling home at rush hour but he said the drivers feel they have been ‘backed into a corner’ by the council.

He said: “We apologise for the delays that this will cause but the council have left us with no other option than to carry out this protest.

“We’ve been backed into a corner here.”

But the council say taxi drivers failed to attend a meeting this afternoon set up to avert their demonstration, which a spokesman described as a ‘cynical move is designed to make it as difficult as they can for Tameside residents to get home at rush hour.’

Mr Vickerstaff said: “The council aren’t communicating with us. This protest is a last resort for us, we have tried to meet with them to resolve these issues but they just haven’t responded.

“There are a number of issues that have been going on for a long time and nothing has changed.

“We are not happy with the vehicle age policy, the test and badge fares, they have not responded to our Freedom of Information requests and they owe us refunds for fee increases.

“A number of minority drivers within the borough are charging much higher tariffs and ripping off the public. The council know about this but haven’t done anything.”

Assistant Executive Director for Environmental Services at Tameside Council , Ian Saxon said: “I really am scratching my head as to why they are persisting with this protest. I’d not only arranged to meet them at 1pm to discuss to avoid this disruption, but as far as I was concerned we had no issues which had been ignored.

“I’m not sure what the trade’s motivation is for these demonstrations, I really am struggling to understand why they’re determined to cause the public so much pain. Any action we take is motivated by one thing: keeping the public safe.

“The only losers are those members of the public who rely most on the trade to get them home safely; they must feel completely let down by the taxi trade.

“That said we will always leave the door open for further negotiations if the trade decide they want to sit down with us and talk.”

Greater Manchester Police posted on social media that the protest will be peaceful and said there is ‘no evidence it will need to be policed’.

But commuters aren’t happy about the protest after the previous one caused gridlock at rush hour.

Gareth Longden posted: “This is just what we need at this time of a Friday. Not the best way to get people on there side.”

Joanne Cope wrote: “I got stuck in this the last time, over 30 minutes to get from the BT roundabout to the Asda junction. Avoid it if you can.”

Sarah Speight said: “Absolute joke on a Friday night when all people want to do is get home after a busy day at work, what are they gaining from this apart from annoying every other person on the road?”

source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... e-10321219

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