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Express and Echo (Exeter)
December 18, 2007 Tuesday
Taxi boss cuts cars as 22 firms battle over two high street ranks
Angry taxi firm owners in Honiton are demanding extra cab rank space in the area.
There are 22 taxi firms in the town but only two parking spaces in the High Street.
As a result, at least one company has been forced to cut the number of drivers because they are unable to collect shoppers and are wasting fuel driving around Honiton.
And desperate cab companies say it's reaching crisis point in the run-up to Christmas.
John Huffer, owner of Horseshoe Taxis in the High Street and chairman of the East Devon Hackney Carriage Association, said the situation was becoming critical.
He said: "The battle for more taxi rank space in Honiton has been ongoing for at least 10 years and it doesn't look like being resolved anytime soon. I don't think Honiton town council is taking the issue very seriously, which means we are still fighting to get another taxi rank provided."
Mr Huffer said that he had to reduce the size of the business because of the lack of rank space.
He said: "I used to run 10 cars in my fleet, but have reduced it to five because we were finding it hard to find parking space in the town. This reduced my income dramatically.
"With the increased number of Christmas shoppers at the moment, taxi drivers are constantly battling each other for parking space. The only thing that helps is the police not moving us on when we are double-parked - which they are legally entitled to do so."
Mr Huffer thought taxi drivers should be given more assistance by the town council.
He said: "I believe they are putting up barriers when they come to discussing the issue.
"The last time a rank was discussed back in February, the town council recommended it should not be given planning permission because they claimed it would prevent high street shops getting their deliveries. But there are 22 taxi firms in Honiton, and you could argue we are one of the area's major employers, yet the town council does not seem willing to consider us."
Danny Cramer, manager of taxi firm Cabline, said drivers had to tour the town while waiting for spaces on the rank.
"Parking limits in High Street mean drivers can wait for only an hour at a time," he said.
"If nothing is done, business will be badly hit. The existing rank is very limited. Something has got to be done."
John Stephenson, clerk to Honiton Town council, said the issue of taxi ranks was not due to be discussed in the future.
He added that Devon County Council was supposed to be looking into it but did not anticipate it would be done in the next financial year.
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