Taxi Driver Online

The Sentinel (Stoke)

August 30, 2007 Thursday

Drivers want brakes put on hire rivals

BYLINE: PHIL CORRIGAN

Private hire drivers in Newcastle under Lyme say they are sick of cars from outside the borough stealing their fares.

They claim drivers licensed by other local authorities are putting the lives of customers and other road-users in danger with their antics, as well as taking away their trade.

The drivers have now formed the Newcastle Private Hire Association to look after their interests and they will be taking their concerns to Newcastle Borough Council next week.

Three senior drivers, who have almost 70 years of experience between them, have formed the group's organising committee.

Mark Barlow and Steve Eden, who drive for Sid's Taxis of Chesterton, along with Clayton-based Castle Cars proprietor Dave Harrison, say their association now has more than 100 members.

Mr Barlow, aged 41, of Chesterton, said: "We police ourselves in Newcastle. We will tell our customers that we'll pick them up by Woolworths in the High Street.

"But cars are coming from other licensing authorities, and parking three or four abreast, so we can't get through, and by the time we get there our fares have disappeared. They've been picked up by another car."

Mr Barlow says the problem is just as bad at the other end of the High Street, where he says some drivers are waiting on the roundabout, illegally plying for hire.

Private hire vehicles must be pre-booked while only hackney carriage taxis are allowed to pick up passengers when they are flagged down.

Mr Barlow added: "Drunken people are wandering into the middle of the road to get into a private hire car.

"Sooner or later someone is going to get killed. Lorry drivers come through here at night, and it's annoying them as well.

"The police are doing their best to stop this happening.

"We are going to meet with the council and put our cards on the table. Hopefully we can work together to solve these problems."

The association will be meeting with officers from Newcastle Borough Council next Friday.

But Dave Currie, secretary of Stoke-on-Trent Private Hire Association, does not believe there is a problem.

Mr Currie said: "If a driver has a reason for being somewhere, if they've just dropped off a fare, they can pick up another fare as long as their base is kept in the loop.

"They aren't doing anything illegal. What they can't do is wait for fares. That is pirating.

"Drivers from Newcastle are doing the same thing in Hanley. It's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

"There will always be some dribble over the border, there always has been and there always will be.

"It's called competition. The Newcastle drivers are just bleating."

A spokesman for Newcastle Borough Council confirmed that there have been incidents where private hire drivers have picked up people who pre-booked with another firm.

She said: "The borough council can take action against drivers who flout the regulations, which has been done on previous occasions where there has been hard evidence of the offence.

"The private hire association will hold a meeting with the council on September 7."
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Not bad it only took them 31 years.

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IDFIMH