Taxi Driver Online

There's been several recent articles about this issue, and obviously that's now goaded officialdom into taking action about it, for good or bad


Taxi drivers fined on Foregate Street

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/21 ... te-street/

TAXI drivers have received fines this week for offences related to improper parking on Foregate Street.

Taxi drivers on Foregate Street were recently highlighted in a video shared by a cyclist on social media, showing parking on double yellow lines, mounting the kerb and overhanging into bus stops.

The video sparked a large conversation about the parking situation on the city centre road, with city councillors weighing in on the issue.

Cllr Richard Udall, chairman of the Licensing and Environmental Health Committee at Worcester City Council, revealed that some drivers have already received fines for their parking.

He said: "I can confirm that a number of taxis received fixed penalties this week for offences on Foregate Street.

"Licensing officers have been taking action to enforce the rules."

Haris Saleem, chairman of the taxi Association in Worcester, agreed that if drivers were parking illegally in the area, the fines were justified.

He said: "This has been an ongoing thing for a while now and a long-term issue.

"I think if drivers are illegally parking on Foregate Street, it cannot be defended at all.

"The drivers need to respect the law and park properly."

A message from Worcestershire Regulatory Services was sent to all drivers last week after the issue was highlighted in the Worcester News.

The email said: "This poor practice is not only a health and safety hazard, but it is also causing increased traffic flow and congestion problems in and around the city and is having a negative effect on driver reputation.

"Officers will also be working with other enforcement agencies to keep these areas clear from illegal and irresponsibly parked vehicles.

"If necessary both fixed penalty parking notices and penalty points issued under the Worcester City Hackney Carriage and Private Hire penalty point scheme, to any drivers who are found to be flouting the rules.

Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) is a shared service delivering Environmental Health functions (food safety, health and safety and many aspects of pollution control) and Licensing administration on behalf of the six district councils in Worcestershire.

Not sure why I didn't post anything earlier, but this one below from about a week ago was quite interesting, although I couldn't really understand the point being made. But looks like this article has been pulled, which maybe explains the confusion to a degree, and you can see why the contents might have been disputed.

But it's still in the Google cache, although as far as Worcester News is concerned it seems to have been expunged from history


Taxi driver claims councillor is encouraging improper parking

A CITY councillor and taxi driver has denied allegations he is encouraging operators to overpark on a main city street.

A taxi driver has made allegations Cllr Basherat Ali has encouraged the over-ranking by taxis which has caused controversy.

Taxi driver Mohammed Akbar has been a taxi driver in Worcester for over 20 years and has alleged that Cllr Basherat Ali is not representing taxi drivers, despite being a driver himself.

Mr Akbar said: "Cllr Ali is encouraging drivers to over-rank on Foregate Street and is not listening to taxi drivers in Worcester.

"I live in the Arboretum and have been a part of the Worcester Taxi Association for over 20 years. As a councillor and taxi driver, he needs to be safeguarding the city and not encouraging this behaviour.

"Encouraging this sort of behaviour amongst drivers is unacceptable and I do not think that standards should be dropped this low."

The allegation comes after a recent story where taxis were filmed by a cyclist in Worcester parked on double yellow lines and mounting the kerb on Foregate Street.

Cllr Ali denied the claims and doubled down on his previous comments that he wants the city council to properly enforce the area.

He said: "I am certainly not in favour of overparking on Foregate Street and it is something that I regularly talk to drivers about.

"I am certainly not encouraging them, but I want private drivers to be more controlled in the area on weekends.

"If the city council can start to regularly monitor and enforce the area, I feel like it can work for all parties and make the area a lot better for everyone."

In a video shared on social media earlier this week, a queue of waiting taxis could be seen stretching past the taxi rank near the Odeon Cinema and parking on double yellows as well as on the path.

Dan Brothwell, chair of Bike Worcester, shared a video taken on Foregate Street after a picture was shared of a similar situation in the same area from an account called Badly Parked Worcester.

Foregate street is where the railway station is so I doubt this is a new phenomena as presumably at certain times a day the best source of work

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Unless it's in a bus lane tickets can't be issued, yet, for normal parking offences.

So why did those drivers sit there while the traffic wardens wrote out the tickets?

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IDFIMH

Worcester cab drivers blame parking fines on council for not sorting taxi rank mess

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23 ... rank-mess/

CAB drivers who have been fined for illegal parking say they are being penalised because the council is doing nothing to fix the mess in the city’s taxi ranks.

Taxi drivers in Worcester have been fined by West Mercia Police for parking outside the city’s designated taxi ranks but the drivers have laid the blame on Worcester City Council for failing to stop private hire taxis from clogging up the city’s roads.

Taxi ranks in Foregate Street and St Swithin’s Street are regularly overflowing and cabs waiting outside the ranks for revellers leaving clubs and bars in the narrow New Street have led to fines from police.

City taxi driver Mohammad Sajad told councillors that loopholes in the law which allowed taxis handed a licence from any council in the country to ply their trade in Worcester meant upwards of 250 taxis were descending on the city at most weekends.

Mr Sajad said this was forcing the city’s hackney cab drivers – who had been given taxi licences from Worcester City Council – to park outside of ranks to wait for passengers which meant they were running the risk of fines from police.

Cllr Simon Cronin said the council was letting down taxi drivers who were continually having to risk a fine from police because they were not being provided with somewhere to park.

“I actually made a request [at the last meeting committee meeting in June] that enforcement should actively be carried out to stop the misuse of the ranks which, at that time, was an ‘occasional problem’ but through the summer that enforcement hasn’t happened. We now have some very serious problems.

“The ranks in New Street are routinely blocked up with private vehicles and taxi drivers are being ticketed by the police because they are over-ranking onto double yellow lines,” he told the licensing and environmental health committee at a meeting in the Guildhall on September 27.

“Our taxi provision in this city is being hampered by misuse of the ranks.

“It is causing problems for our citizens who can’t find taxis and the taxis can’t stop anywhere near where they are expected to be because those places are blocked and they are afraid of getting tickets.”

Thought this was about the same issue, but looks like a totally different rank.

But not surprised the public are confused by the signage, or lack thereof - I certainly am


Lack of signs having 'massive effect' on Worcester's taxi trade say drivers

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23 ... y-drivers/


Image: Worcester News

TAXI drivers say missing signs pointing the public away from roadworks and towards a new rank is ‘massively affecting’ trade.

A temporary taxi rank was set up in Angel Street in Worcester in the summer to replace a number of spaces shut off to allow for the council to carry out resurfacing work and improvements to The Cross.

Frustrated taxi drivers waiting at the passenger-less temporary rank in nearby Angel Street said on Tuesday (October 4) that the ongoing work in The Cross and the lack of signs were having a huge impact.


Image: Worcester News

Shaukat Ali, 52, who has been a taxi driver for 17 years, said: “We’re trying to provide a public service at the end of the day and we can’t do that at the moment.

“Sometimes we are sitting in traffic for half an hour and not going anywhere. Who is that helping? It’s hitting the customers because they have to pay more.

“There are no signs to tell people that they should come here instead and it’s having a massive effect on trade.”

The lack of signs was discussed by Worcester City Council’s licensing and environmental health committee at a meeting in the Guildhall last Tuesday (September 27).

It was expected the signs would be erected quickly but they were still not in place a week later.


Image: Worcester News

Cllr Cronin said the decision to close the taxi rank in The Cross without much warning had been met with “unified horror.”

“At the last minute we were promised that those ranks [in The Cross] would only be closed for three days and as far as I can tell between that meeting [in June] and now, they’ve probably only been open for three days,” he told councillors.

“What I think makes the situation worse is that there is no visible sign to the general public redirecting people looking for taxis on that Cross rank to the temporary rank in Angel Street.

“I’ve been up there almost every day during the summer and I have never seen a sign. I’ve been told there’s a sign there but it’s very well-hidden.”

Asked what had happened to the signs, Niall McMenamin, from Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said: “Well clearly it isn’t if that’s what people are saying.

“It was, because I was receiving complaints from the county council that the rank put in place in Angel Place was not being used and the public were following the signs and standing there for a period of time without any taxis being there.

“At one stage there was a sign, whether it has been removed, I can look into it certainly to make sure it’s put back in place.”


Image: Worcester News

Defo no lack of signage, just not the right signage.

What a mess!

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IDFIMH

Crackdown on illegal parking to fix 'chaos' in Worcester's taxi ranks

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23 ... taxi-ranks


Image: Worcester News

THE council has vowed to get tough on problem parkers causing chaos in the city’s taxi ranks.

Worcester City Council said it will be stepping up patrols and handing out fines to drivers parking illegally and dangerously in and around the city centre’s taxi ranks following a wave of complaints.

Some of the city’s taxi drivers have been calling for extra patrols to put a stop to over-ranking and problematic parking and blamed the council for not patrolling ranks regularly and penalising drivers.

Long queues of taxis are regularly found spilling out of ranks in the city centre, including on busy routes such as Foregate Street, The Cross and Friar Street, creating problems for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, the emergency services and other drivers.

A total of 48 fines have so far been handed out in November, according to the council, including nine in one day during a sweeping patrol of the city centre’s taxi ranks.

Councillor Richard Udall, chair of the council’s licensing and environmental health committee, said illegal parkers had already had enough warnings and would now be facing the consequences.

“Residents and taxi drivers have been complaining for some time about obstructive and illegal parking in the city centre, especially around or adjacent to taxi ranks,” he said.

“We have previously issued a number of warnings and asked for co-operation, but unfortunately a tiny minority of drivers have continued to ignore our warnings.

“It only takes one or two badly parked cars to cause chaos and traffic disruption, they are a hazard to other road users including public transport and cyclists. 

“It's now time to get tough. If they continue to ignore the parking restrictions, they will face the consequences. 

“The restrictions exist for good reasons, for public safety and we will not compromise on such an important issue.

“Our simple message is park legally or don't park at all - move on and go elsewhere.”

Haris Saleem, vice chair of Worcester Taxi Drivers Association, said the council had not been doing enough to stamp out the parking problems in and around taxi ranks.

“I can’t defend any of the illegal parking,” he said. “Our advice to drivers is always park somewhere sensibly and do not overpark or block anything – especially when the streets are narrow.

“The problem is that there is not enough enforcement by the city council.

“A lot of taxi plates have been issued but there are not enough spaces for the taxis to stop or park.

“If they have got nowhere to go, where can they park?”

Make up your mind - first you say the problem is lack of council enforcement, then you're saying there aren't enough spaces for the number of plates in issue

Of course, for public consumption he can't exactly say that the council shouldn't enforce the parking regulations at all, but perhaps his emphasis should be on the lack of available rank space?

Doncha just love the smart Alec commenters on these websites? This one's not quite the 'take their badge and plate' for a parking infringement, but instead thinks HCDs should use pay and display parking spaces instead of the ranks. The expense could be 'built into their business plan'

Alternatively, they should just drive around the presumably clogged up town centre

Ironically, he's waiting for the day app bookings will mean that there will be no ranks at all, thus more environmentally friendly

This one's a bit more cynical about the council's motives, and thinks it's simply a PR exercise, which kind of echoes my own thinking on a lot of the opportunistic 'crackdowns' and stuff like that.

Problem is, they'll come down with a rod of iron if it does suit the council, their cronies and the 'optics', and turn a blind eye when it doesn't

And how would pay for these parking charges? The fairies?

No it would be added to the fares and punters would pay. That makes no sense whatsoever.

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IDFIMH

Wave of fines handed to drivers caught using Worcester's taxi ranks

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23 ... axi-ranks/

Almost 100 fines were handed out last month to members of the public caught using taxi ranks as part of a crackdown by the council.

Worcester City Council said it handed out handfuls of fines to problem parkers blocking and parking in the city centre’s ranks in November.

A total of 92 non-taxi drivers were slapped with penalty notices by the city council as it stepped up evening patrols following a wave of complaints.

Three weeks ago, the city council said it had already handed out 48 fines, including nine in one day during a sweeping patrol of the city centre’s taxi ranks, during the first weeks of November and the council plans to carry out more next year.

Some of the city’s taxi drivers had been calling for extra patrols to put a stop to over-ranking and problematic parking and blamed the council for not patrolling ranks regularly and penalising drivers.

Long queues of taxis are regularly found spilling out of ranks in the city centre, including on busy routes such as Foregate Street, The Cross and Friar Street, creating problems for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, the emergency services and other drivers.

The council’s response to the complaints was discussed by the licensing and environmental health committee at a meeting in the Guildhall on Monday (December 12).

Cllr Simon Cronin, who had been leading calls for extra enforcement, said the number of fines handed out to drivers was a “step in the right direction.”

He said: “I’m very pleased to see that we are now sending our [enforcement officers] out and particularly in the evening time when people think they can do this without any consequences … I’m delighted that we are enforcing these now and long may it continue.

“If we do see an upsurge in this sort of abuse I shall be lobbying for an enhanced level of enforcement in the future.

“In the meantime, I’m really glad we have had this sort of response. It would be great to think that it brought the problem to an end, it hasn’t but it’s a step in the right direction.”