Taxi Driver Online

Fuming taxi drivers fined for going into rail station drop off point because of "misleading" signs

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... ng-8653646



Private hire taxi drivers in Leicester have been left angry and confused after signs were put up at Leicester Railway Station seemingly banning them from entering its drop off and pick up point. The signs were installed last month by the station operator East Midlands Railway (EMR) which said 'no private hire vehicles' could enter the taxi rank accessed from Station Street and many were handed fines for doing so.

The drivers have said they had never been stopped from going into the station before and the signs have had a "huge effect" on recent business. EMR has since admitted the signs were "misleading" but confirmed that the vehicle access rules have not changed and all taxis are entitled to drop off and pick up inside the rank.

Karmjit Sahota, 50, from Birstall has worked for local taxi service Swift Fox Cabs for the last 25 years and was one of the drivers who was handed a ticket. He alleges he was stopped and given a £70 parking fine last Wednesday (July 26) by a warden after he entered the station to drop off passengers.

He claims the warden pointed to the 'no private hire vehicles' sign after he asked what the fine was for. But the ticket issued to Mr Sahota, seen by LeicestershireLive, said the issuing reason was because he was 'causing an obstruction'.

He said: "This has been ridiculous, our company [Swift Fox Cabs] has the contract to take railway drivers to stations and we have done for years, but then suddenly we weren't allowed in the station at all. I have appealed the ticket and have asked them to provide me evidence with what I have actually done wrong, as I didn't park.

"Multiple drivers have told me they got fined for going into the station early last week and I can understand if you actually park in the disabled space, you deserve to be fined. But I didn't do anything wrong, I just went into the one way system.

"I've been a taxi driver in the city for nearly 30 years and never had a problem before. It's crazy."

Private hire taxis are pre-booked by passengers through a licensed operator and these include online services such as Uber and Bolt. These are different from the traditional black cab Hackney carriages which do not have to be pre-booked.

Muhamed Arif Cassam, a fellow private hire taxi driver from Leicester, added the signs has caused "significant disruption". He said: "This has caused real trouble for the people of Leicester.

"With all this rain we have had recently, we were scared about dropping people off close to the station but passengers kept asking us can't you drop me any closer? If Station Street was really busy, we would have to park so far away or stop on the double yellow lines, which is extremely dangerous.

"Or what about when we had disabled passengers - what were we supposed to do there? The station is one of the most common drop off points and it has really affected business. I really can't understand any of it, it is not fair."

The signs have since been taken down, according to local taxi drivers, and private hire vehicles have started to re-enter the station. Drivers can be fined for improperly using the taxi rank by committing offences which include staying for more than 20 minutes or for parking incorrectly in a disabled bay.

A spokesperson for EMR said in response to the drivers: "We can confirm that vehicle access to Leicester Railway station hasn’t changed, however we are aware that signage advising taxi restrictions is misleading and we are making the necessary changes to ensure this is clearer for permit holders and private vehicles who access the station.”

EMR also told LeicestershireLive it could not confirm whether all the fined drivers would have fines rescinded or refunds paid. The rail company did clarify all those who were fined can appeal the tickets and the details of how to do so are on the back of the ticket. If a ticket was issued by the Rail Pay app, the appeal process is on the bottom of the printout, EMR added.

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IDFIMH

Oh what a surprise a train operator putting it's own interests before it's paying customers

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

Except that they haven't. If you read the article the signs have been removed and drivers can do exactly the same as they have always done.
A bit of a non story really. Someone made a mistake and someone has corrected it.

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Grandad,

I doubt that it was a mistake but they soon found out that their paying customers did not want the inconvenience of having to drag their suitcases so removed the signs

you PLAN to put signs up not mistakenly put them up !

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

The mistake I refer to was the idea. Which has now been put back in it's box.

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Grandad,

Not sure how anyone can really work out what's going on here, from the article at least, because it's the usual messy terminology, and even the official rail company response uses the t-word generically, so how is anyone supposed to work out what's going on, precisely?

I mean, from the kick off it's 'fuming taxi drivers' in the headline complaining they can't access the taxi rank - sounds like they have a good case

Well, of course, regulars on here will know what's going on, even if the term 'private hire taxi' drivers might confuse the public, especially if viewed after the headline, and in conjunction with the use of the term 'taxi rank'.

But I'd guess the sign was just intended to keep PHVs off the HC rank, but obviously it's caused a bit of confusion:

I mean, what's that supposed to be saying?

It reads like HCs can only rank for a maximum 20 minutes. But I'd guess the 20 minute restriction is actually about PHVs dropping and/or picking up

In fact, if you ignore the wording on the sign, the symbol looks like it's banning HCs from the rank area

the taxi rank now is less than a third of the size it once was in fact the last time I did a drop at leicester station you came in and along what is now the pedestrianised bit.

They rebuilt the drop off/pick up area at Peterborough and halved it's capacity causing chaos and now it's going to be built on so god knows where the cars are going to be able to drop off and pick up. The attitude of the railways is to make it as difficult as possible for people to reach the train stations by car because they assume rail passegers are non car users

unless you live in Manea New £1m car park only used by three cars in one week

£1m to build a 120 space car park for the station which serves a village of 2500 no wonder locals are critical

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