Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies say 'there are too many taxis in Crawley'

CABBIES have begged town hall bosses to deal with the "huge over-supply" of taxis in Crawley. Drivers want the council to use licensing powers to limit the number of Hackney Carriages working on town roads. The taxi rank outside Three Bridges Station has become so crowded that police have started forcing drivers to move on.

Speaking at a town hall meeting last Wednesday, taxi driver Alan Howard said: "The council's policy of deregulation (not limiting numbers) has resulted in a huge over-supply of taxis in Crawley." He added: "As of last week our job has been made utterly impossible by the enforcement of traffic regulations by the police. "Will the council end the police action which is preventing us from doing our job properly?"

Council leader Bob Lanzer said: "We will take a look at traffic regulations at Three Bridges Station." But Cllr Lanzer bluntly refused drivers' calls for a limit on taxi numbers. He told Mr Howard: "We have had substantial discussion about taxi regulation.

"The evidence suggests that we shouldn't be meeting your wishes on this point. We should be maximising the amount of choice that passengers have. "I remain confident it is right not to introduce that kind of regulation."

The council has the power to limit the number of hackney carriage taxis, although numbers of private hire cars (cabs available by advance booking only) cannot be restricted.

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IDFIMH

"The evidence suggests that we shouldn't be meeting your wishes on this point. We should be maximising the amount of choice that passengers have. "I remain confident it is right not to introduce that kind of regulation."

Or

We wont be listening to your views or be bothered to look at the evidence that is suggest to be there. We are very happy that there is an over supply of taxis around so customer have no waiting time. I remain confident that taxi drivers do not know what they are talking about

Sounds no different to every other LA in the country, including mine.