Taxi Driver Online

Lancashire Evening Post

February 19, 2008

Church Street - safe but still risky

"Preston is normally a safe place to work - but you can never be too complacent."

For nine years, Mark Selley has driven his hackney carriage on the city's streets at all times of the day and night. Most of the time, he believes it is a great place to work and the city centre does not deserve its bad reputation.

But Mark, treasurer of the Preston Hackney Carriage Association, says cabbies still have to run the gauntlet of problems such as passengers try to get out of the cab without paying - known as "bolking" in the trade - and attacks by passengers and teenage yobs.

He says: "Anyone working alone late at night knows there is always a risk.

"Bolking is a problem, and that's why many drivers ask for payment up front first. It cuts down on the numbers of people who don't pay.

"And taxis now are more secure, with many having CCTV. But there is always that element of danger. And experience means you know where the danger spots are."

While violence towards drivers is not a big problem in Preston, attacks on vehicles are a real danger, so much so that police are riding in the back of cabs to catch out yobs.

Mark explains: "Gangs of kids can be hanging about hedges, throwing bricks and eggs. Most drivers will be involved in an incident with kids at some point.

"I don't understand why they do it. They may think it's amusing but you have to call the police out and there's very little they can do. You can waste hours waiting for your cab to be repaired and cleaned up and it means you can't earn a living."

The introduction of taxi marshalls outside Yates Wine Lodge, in Church Street, has reduced the number of flare-ups between revellers arguing over cabs.

Twenty-four hour drinking has also improved the situation by removing the flood of people on to the streets at drinking up time and searching for a cab.

He says: "Since the licensing hours changed there is not the rush for a taxi at closing time.

"Five or six years ago that was the time of night that was most dangerous. Now with the bars closing at staggered times you don't have the same rush of people on to the streets."

Fellow driver Pete Tyson has been working the cab ranks of Preston city centre for the past 13 years.

He believes that the two things which have changed regarding people out and about in the evenings is the amount they are drinking - and how much more aggressive they are.

"We are a very angry nation," he says, "and with that, people are getting a lot more aggressive, especially when they have had a few drinks.

"If someone was to walk out in front of my cab and I slammed my brakes on today, rather than them saying thank you for not killing them, I would probably get a fist on the bonnet and a load of swear words, but that is society, isn't it?

"The big difference is that where once upon a time people would go out for a couple of drinks a few nights of the week, now they just go for one big blow-out on a Friday or Saturday and that obviously means they drink a lot more."

But Pete, the son of former Preston mayor Bill Tyson, said that he gets more problems on the estates around the city than he does from revellers in the city centre.

It is a view backed by takeaway boss Shahzad Zafar.

He runs Dixi Plus close to the Church Street cab rank.

Shahzad says he has not had a single fight in his premises in the past 18 months.

The trick, he believes, lies with the art of calming down often drunk customers and defusing situations.

He said: "If someone comes in and starts arguing, we just take them to one side and talk to them, there is no point in arguing back because that is just going to cause more problems.

"To start a fight in the shop not only causes problems for us, it gives a bad impression for the other customers using the shop and that does no-one any good."

The boss, who works 12-hour shifts from 5pm to 5am over the weekends, said that CCTV installed inside the shop and a strong police presence during the busiest hours stopped any problems.

Fellow businessman Ehsan Ellahi runs a late night shop on Church Street and has seen most things in the last couple of years.

"A few idiots trying to rob us," is the matter-of-fact description of the kind of trouble which has prompted him to employ a doorman.

Ehsan Ellahi's Centre News is open until 3am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

He said: "We have one person behind the till serving customers and one standing by the door making sure everything is OK there, and it works quite well.

"Otherwise we have the bouncers from the pubs next door and across the road who we know and keep an eye on us. If we need their help, we know we can call on them.

"On top of that, we have CCTV and a lot of police around at weekends which seems to do the trick."

So, with security taken care of, the shop is stocking up on the things they know their customers will need: headache pills for those who have had one too many, indigestion tablets for that dodgy kebab and even balloons and party hats for every occasion.

Ehsan adds: "We sell loads of that stuff. Then you have cigarettes, chewing gum, bags of crisps...the weekend is a good time for us, so it is not such a bad place to be from that point of view."
__________________________