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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 9:57 am 
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Not quite sure what's going on here. Taxi chap says they can only take passengers to Tay Street in central Perth, which is almost three miles from the event at Scone Palace. He then says they can be dropped at Quarryhall, which is at least half way there. Suspect he means that people won't want to walk from Quarryhall, so they'll prefer to be dropped in Tay Street and get a Stagecoach bus closer to the event.

But unsurprising that Stagecoach given priority for the event and will no doubt make a killing, and that the taxi trade frozen out completely and only told of the arrangements a few days ago - gives them no time to get something done about it. :roll:


Perth taxi firm slams no-go to Scone Palace for BBC Biggest Weekend

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/loca ... o-12594138

The firms says it is "thoroughly disappointed" at the travel arrangements

A Perth taxi company has said it is “thoroughly disappointed” in the travel arrangements for the BBC Biggest Weekend.

The two-day music event, which takes place today and tomorrow at Scone Palace, has seen a number of roads closed off to make way for regular shuttle buses from Perth city centre to the main arena.

As part of the travel arrangements, taxi companies have been told they can only drop people off in Perth city centre and cannot take people out to Scone Palace - a decision which has been dubbed a “total shambles” by one taxi company.

Andy Lothian, director of Ace Taxis, said: “We are not happy because we will not be able to go into Scone Palace or pick people up from the event. That is unprecedented, we do the race days and other events at the palace and this has never happened before.

“We have got a booking for eight people from Errol to the venue and that costs £35. I am now not allowed to take these people there and I have to take them to Tay Street because that’s as far as we are getting. We will now charge them £30 for that, but then they will all have to get on a Stagecoach bus and pay another £40 over and above what they have paid for the taxi just to get to Scone Palace - we were willing to take them straight there for much less.

“Taxis will only be able to drop people off at Quarrymill, but from there it is a 30-minute walk and I am not allowed to pick people up from there. All vehicles travelling on Isla Road will be told to turn back so there’s no point in even trying.”

Andy added they are normally consulted on major events, but this time there has been a lack of communication, and they were only informed of the travel arrangements on Monday.

He continued: “Any gripes in the taxi office are because at no stage were we involved in this process. We were not brought in to talk about it and we were only told on Monday this was happening, which is totally unacceptable. We had a lot of bookings and we have now had to tell these people we can’t take them to the venue. It is okay for the people living in Perth, but there’s a lot of people travelling in for it from Stirling, Dundee and Falkirk.

“We are all thoroughly disappointed we were not asked for any input and we were only brought in at the last minute when there was nothing that could be done to change anything, that is a shambles.”


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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 10:20 am 
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To be fair the council apologised to other businesses and residents towards the end of last week for the lack of communication regarding the travel arrangements, and there seems to have been some relaxation of the exclusion zone, but there's no specific mention of the taxi fiasco. :roll:

Note though the usual blather about 'multi-agency responsibility' and 'consulting with partners' at the end - always a good way to shift the blame a bit. :roll:

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... vel-plans/


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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 1:31 pm 
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Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
and no doubt stagecoach have a "special relationship" with the councillors and their minions

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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 8:19 pm 
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Clearly we don't know what happened before, but if I was head taxi man I would have been at the council's door the day the event was announced.

You need to make a nuisance of yourself on day one, not when it's too late.

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:33 am 
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Pretty much a carbon copy of last summer's article, just a different festival.

Same old, same old, and you wonder whether stuff like this makes it more or less likely that the organisers will do things differently :roll:


Perth taxi company lambastes traffic “shambles” around events at Scone Palace ahead of Rewind Festival

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... -festival/

A Perth taxi company has lambasted the traffic management “shambles” surrounding events at Scone Palace ahead of this month’s Rewind Festival.

Drivers for Ace Taxis claim they are often told to take massive detours when leaving the palace or forced to drop passengers long distances away from their destination.

Owner Andy Lothian said he stopped accepting bookings for this weekend’s Scottish Game Fair due to the issue and that the Rewind music festival was a “disaster waiting to happen”.

Crowds at the Scottish Game FairMr Lothian claimed his drivers were forced to take a 10-mile detour when leaving the game fair on Friday, making it not worth their while to take customers too and from the event.

He said: “It’s an absolute shambles.

“I stopped taking bookings because it’s an £8 fare and it’s an extra 30 minutes and then this 10 mile detour – the boys aren’t making any money.

“Every event that has been at Scone Palace has been a disaster for taxis.”

The taxi company boss said he had concerns about public safety around Rewind, since revellers would be coming and going late into the evening.

“Rewind is just another disaster waiting to happen,” he said.

“They were making us drop them (passengers) off half-a-mile away last year and they were walking 20-25 minutes.

“And then, after, they had to walk all the way back in the dark. Many of these people are getting taxis because they can’t walk these distances.”

Mr Lothian said the management systems used on the day were never the ones that had been agreed in consultations with drivers.

He said: “It’s absolutely shocking. It happens every time they put an event on out there.

“We’re being treated as second class citizens. Police Scotland are not interested in traffic management.”

Police insisted they only attended in a monitoring capacity and that each event had its own private traffic management company.

A Tayside Police spokesperson said: “The Scone Game Fair organisers have employed a private traffic management company to operate the traffic management plan, which is the same plan that has been used in previous years.

“Officers are in attendance to monitor the road networks around the Game Fair site, which is standard practice.

“No issues have been reported to Police Scotland by the event traffic manager.”

A spokeswoman for Scone Palace said she did not want to comment.

Rewind Festival will take place at the venue from July 19-21.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:22 pm 
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Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
most of these events are best not to accept bookings

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 10:26 pm 
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edders23 wrote:
most of these events are best not to accept bookings

Is the correct answer.

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