Cab strike spells chaos for clubbers
CLUBBERS face cab chaos this weekend as taxi drivers strike in North Wales' largest town.
Wrexham cabbies are taking action after a row with council bosses over new car door stickers reached breaking point.
At closing time on Saturday an estimated 150 private hire drivers will switch off their engines leaving revellers stranded in Wrexham.
They include drivers from the town's main taxi offices, Cresta, Apollo and Wrexham, and make up the majority of cabbies working on Saturday night.
The council insist under new regulations they must display door stickers identifying them as a taxi driver.
They have six months to comply or face losing their taxi licence.
Private owners say the stickers will deprive them of privacy when they are off-duty and damage the paintwork.
Cresta Cab operator Alan Matthews said they had instead asked for detachable luminous roof signs but the request has fallen on deaf ears.
"I do not know why the council are insisting on this course of action.
"I can really sympathise with the drivers. They are fed up. The last thing they want is to go on strike but the strike is going to go ahead and I think it will cause chaos at the weekend."
Chief Public Protection, Andy Lewis, said: "We were aware of the stickers being an issue with taxi drivers and operators.
"But when we made this decision we had to make it with the safety of the public as our paramount concern.
"I would caution anyone, particularly lone females, to ensure that the vehicle they are entering is a Private Hire Vehicle rather than an ordinary car to ensure their own safety."
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In half the country, PH drivers are fighting councils to have some sort of signage on there vehicles, to help identification and allow entry into bus lanes.
Yet in the other half PH drivers are fighting councils not to have them.
Is it no great surprise that nobody loves us.
