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Drivers take action

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

THERE was a brief period of traffic chaos in Tavistock last week as taxi drivers took action in their call for more allocated pick-up spaces.
They spent 15 minutes circling the two roundabouts in Bedford Square and traffic was soon gridlocked on approach roads to the town centre.
The drivers took the action following a letter from West Devon Borough Council warning that parking restrictions would be enforced.
The council letter warned taxi drivers about parking in unallocated spaces such as the bus bays outside the Bedford Hotel, and advised that civil enforcement officers were now empowered to issue penalty charge notices on vehicles which drive away before they reach them.
It also warned drivers of restrictions to the Chapel Street car park, where vehicles can only wait for ten minutes before a valid ticket is needed.
Carole Nally, of Jay Cars, said: ‘There are around 54 taxi plates in the West Devon area and only eleven spaces for taxis in Tavistock.
‘The council continue to issue Hackney Carriage plates without any thought about where to put them. When we complained to the council they said that Hackney Carriages can drive around until someone hails them — this demonstration shows what would happen if they were to drive around at the same time.
‘There was traffic queued up everywhere and this wasn’t even all of the taxis.
‘We planned the protest for only 15 minutes and the traffic was soon backed up all around Tavistock. This is the chaos they can cause in just 15 minutes, imagine if they did it for 12 hours a day, it would be madness.’
Owner of Bernie’s Taxis, Steven Barnes, said there was inadequate parking for taxis in the town: ‘We’ve been asking for more spaces for about 20 years. New regulations mean that taxi owners can issue as many plates as they want, which has snowballed.
‘On an average day there will be around 20 cars out, all applying for the seven spaces on the taxi rank in Bedford Square. The council told us to drive around until we’re hailed but that’s using petrol and burning fuel — it’s not very green.’
Mr Barnes wants the borough council to issue more taxi spaces or to allow taxis to use the bus bay outside the Bedford at their discretion.
A borough council spokesman said: ‘The area outside the Bedford Hotel has been designated as a coach/bus dropping off point for a number of years.
‘Following complaints from coach companies that taxis were parking in this area on a regular basis, preventing them from dropping off their passengers safely, the council sent a letter to the taxi drivers reminding them again of this designation.
‘The council has started to hold regular forums for the taxi drivers and a reminder of the restrictions on parking in front of the Bedford Hotel was given at the last meeting, held at the end of March.’

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