Taxi Driver Online

Another story about toilet habits. Quite a fuss given that the drivers have been allowed to use the toilets again. Suspect the paper had written the story and taken photographs etc before normal service was resumed

'We'll have to start urinating on the taxi rank wall...' - Cabbies stage protest after being BARRED from Stoke Station toilets

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... nk-2240809

Virgin Trains has now apologised for any 'confusion' - and let the cabbies back in

Taxi drivers have staged a protest outside Stoke-on-Trent's main railway station - in a row over where they can go to the toilet.

They say a new station official told them they could no longer use the toilets on the two platforms beyond the ticket barriers - and instead directed them to the loos at the nearby North Stafford Hotel.

But the cabbies say this is not a solution and argue the railway station should provide toilets as they pay £300-a-year for a taxi permit to operate from there.

Now Virgin Trains - which operates the station - has apologised over the issue.

Stoke-on-Trent Hackney Carriage Association staged its protest outside the station yesterday.


Taxi drivers stage protest outside Stoke Station in row over toilets.
Pictured is Hackney Carriage Association chairman Waqas Nawaz (Image: Stoke Sentinel)

Association chairman Waqas Nawaz said: “We’ve been using these toilets for more than 30 years and we have never had any problems with using them. But now one official has told us we should use the toilet at the North Stafford Hotel or at Subway.

“Some of the drivers live in Longton or Meir and it’s too far for them to go home just to use the toilet. One driver has a kidney problem and can’t wait that long. There’s nowhere to go other than the station.

“If we use the hotel then after a couple of weeks they will get fed up of us using it. We are paying £300-a-year and the staff know us at the station, but now they’ve been told not to let us through the barrier.”

Cabbie Mukhtar Ali has worked at the railway station for six years.

The 46-year-old said: “This is ridiculous. We pay for permits to work here and they cost £300-a-year and we are being told to go to the toilet at the North Stafford Hotel instead.

“We should be treated the same as the staff working inside the train station. If we can’t work together it’s going to be a problem.

“We shouldn't have to go to the hotel, the train station is our workplace and when they see 90 lads using the hotel toilet they will get annoyed and then we won’t be allowed to go in there and then where will we go?”

The association says drivers need regular access to the toilet due to health reasons.

Driver Nirpal Singh, aged 58, who has worked at the station for more than 10 years, said: “This is where we work and we need a toilet. As long as they provide a toilet we’re happy.

“I use the toilet more often because I’m diabetic. I live about five miles away so to use the toilet it would be five miles there and five miles back.

“We will have to start urinating on the taxi rank wall which will make a mess and won’t look good to people coming in to the city.”

Fellow cabbie Mohammed Sajes, aged 48, said: “I’m not happy because the older we get the more often we need to use the toilet and where are we going to go?

“We can be here for seven to eight hours and in that time we’re going to need the toilet. Stopping us is going to create big problems.

“Ninety lads work here and we are often waiting on the rank for 45 minutes to an hour in the queue and we should be able to use the toilet.”

Here's what Virgin Trains has to say:

After being approached by StokeonTrentLive, Virgin Trains has apologised for 'confusion' regarding the toilet rules.

A spokesman said: “We’re sorry for the confusion. Taxi drivers will continue to have the same use of the station facilities as before.”

Not an unreasonable request.

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IDFIMH

Virgin Trains run the station but it's owned by Network Rail.