Taxi Driver Online

Impact of Covid-19 and parking on Salisbury taxi businesses



AT a time when the taxi industry is “on its knees”, a Salisbury driver has received points on his licence for parking next to an already full taxi rank.

With less demand for taxis as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, Kevin Dorrington, of Classic Cabs, said more taxis are parked at the rank in the city centre, along New Canal, waiting for customers.

He said this has caused a decline in free parking spaces, and those unsuccessful in using an allocated spot, spilling on to the neighbouring loading bay, are reported by Wiltshire Council.

Kevin received three points on his licence because of incorrect parking, and he says the council is refusing to void it despite his explanations.

He added that a second warning could result in the revoking of his taxi licence.

“As you can imagine [the taxi service is] on its knees at the moment - there’s no hotels, no restaurants and no one was going to school,” he said.

“Most of us are lingering to catch people finishing their essential shops, but the council is taking pictures of taxis on phones and then saying that’s three points on the licence.”

“We’re trying so hard to make an honest living, you’d think they would give us a break,” he added.

The taxi industry has taken a hit during the pandemic, with Kevin only making around £14 on one particular day.

Kevin added that the taxi rank should be temporarily extended to accommodate the need for spaces during this time.

“As soon as stuff starts to reopen we will be fine – in the meantime there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to use these spaces,” he said.

Kevin said that he, alongside other taxi drivers, had reported the issue to Salisbury MP John Glen, who told the Journal he has spoken to the council on behalf of the businesses.

He said: “I have made representations to the council on behalf of taxi drivers who feel that increasing competition for space on the ranks has left them short of legal places to stop and pick up fares.

“I am concerned by reports that some drivers have received multiple penalties, putting their livelihoods at risk.

“It is the duty and the prerogative of the council to act in the interests of all road users and to apply the rules fairly and consistently but I would hope that there is room for dialogue with drivers to understand the unusual challenges they face in the current situation.”

Sam Fox, Wiltshire Council's corporate director for place and environment, recognised this has been "a very challenging time" for taxi drivers, and parking will be reviewed to ensure there are "sufficient spaces".

The statement said: “Taxis have been a vital service for many communities throughout the pandemic, and with the reduction in non-essential journeys we know that this has been a very challenging time for the industry, and we will continue to do all we can to support local businesses.

“However, the use of loading bays by taxis is not appropriate, as they play a vital role in supporting local commercial businesses, and we must manage the use of public open spaces appropriately to maximise the benefit to all users.

“We have continued to review the availability of parking during the pandemic to ensure access is adequate, and as lockdown is eased, we hope to see the use of taxis increase. However, we will review the parking arrangements again to ensure there are sufficient spaces for taxis."

The director added that taxi licences would only be reviewed following "persistent infringements".

The statement continued: “We operate a Taxi Points Scheme when there are minor infringements to licencing. The scheme is there to improve taxi drivers’ awareness as, once aware, they know to comply with the legal requirement to not park in a loading bay, and we focus on education rather than enforcement.

"Only where there are persistent infringements would we review a taxi licence.”

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IDFIMH

Saw this about over-ranking in Salisbury, and assumed it was a follow up of some kind. But the website looked unfamiliar, and some of the language and terminology used seemed a bit odd...


Parking bays for taxi-men ‘far too few’

SALISBURY City Councillor Sam Levy has called for stringent measures to control Salisbury taxi drivers who were breaking traffic and parking regulations, and in some cases intimidating parking supervisors.

“They have become a menace in some areas because they double and treble park across loading ramps, interfering with the businesses using them,” Councillor Levy said last week.

“In some instances, I have seen taxi drivers abuse parking supervisors who told them to move on. Once, I heard a taxi-driver yell (in his own language) “beat him, beat him,” at a supervisor.

Much of the problem might be due to the shortage of official parking bays provided for taxis by the municipality. There were about 450 taxis operating in Salisbury, but only 34 parking bays, Mr Levy said.

Municipal policy in the past has been to let the taxi companies and the individual taxi-drivers deal with the parking problem themselves. Taxis are not allowed to use public parking spaces.

If the taxi companies exercised proper control over their drivers, these situations would not arise.

Legislation should be enacted holding the companies responsible for the actions of their drivers and putting their operating licenses at risk if their drivers abuse the law,” Mr Levy said.

At Mr Levy’s urging, the Town Planning and Works Committee last week instructed the Director of Works to study and report on the situation.

Mr Pat Travers, financial controller of Rixi Taxis, said it was his company’s policy to discourage drivers from double parking and other violations of municipal by-laws.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

With the increase of the number of automobiles, city parking has become a very serious traffic problem in the Central Business District.

Regulations in the transport sector, especially the public transportation sector is highly essential, hence the authorities need to make sure that taxi drivers adhere to them.

Designating bays for parking also ensures that drivers and operators pay parking fees, thereby avoiding unregistered taxis from operating.

Government, through the relevant Ministry should also make sure that an efficient transport system is put in place so that people do not spend large amounts of hiring taxis.

The introduction of the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company bus scheme by the Government has also brought sanity in the public transport system, but more needs to be done.

Law enforcement agents should always be on the look-out for traffic offenders, especially those that overload their vehicles, without due regard to Covid-19 guidelines.

Oh, I see

Reminds me of when Skippy ran up a council complaining about something and it was a Canadian council.

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IDFIMH