St Albans taxi drivers plan second demo
TAXI drivers staged a demonstration yesterday evening, and have already planned another for next week, after claiming the high number of licences which have been handed out in the city is jeopardising their future.
About 50 to 60 members of the St Albans Taxi Association drove in convoy around the city centre for some two hours to get their message across to St Albans District Council.
Irshad Khan, chairman of the group, said the drivers face a daily struggle to pick up trade because there are simply too many cabs on the district’s roads.
He said: “Some days we can be sat in the rank in St Peters Street for over an hour before we get a job, this is our livelihood which is being ruined.
“We’re providing a public service here, and it feels like we are not being treated as fairly as others who provide a public service.
“This is how we feed our families, we depend on this money, but it feels like we are being forced to take action because nobody listens to our problems.”
Mr Khan said even when customers are asked they agree there are too many taxis to service the city centre rank.
Between 1995 and 1999 the council restricted the number of Hackney Carriage licences it issued.
At the time the limit was lifted just 127 licenced taxi’s operated in St Albans and Harpenden. As of February this year, there are 259 licenced drivers on the roads.
In response to this the association met with the district council’s licensing and regulatory committee on July to request a cap to be introduced.
However their calls were rejected and the council said it was following guidance from the Office of Fair Trading and Department of Transport reports on best practice, which recommends licensing authorities do not impose restrictions on the quantity of licensed Hackney Carriage vehicles.
This week’s demo, which began at 4pm, caused traffic chaos in the city centre during the rush hour as the drivers followed in convoy from the city station, down Hatfield Road, into St Peters Street, then Victoria Road and back to the station.
They had boycotted both the St Peters Street and St Albans City Station rank, not picking up customers for the two hours they were demonstrating.
The drivers’ other frustration was with First Capital Connect and its hike in trading permits for the city station.
The association met with the rail company a month ago and St Albans MP Anne Main has vowed to support their plight.
The drivers plan to stage a second demo in St Peters Street next week.
source:
http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/