Parking Crackdown Begins:Newcastle-u-Tyne

At the risk of repeating myself, there are something in the region of 86 Rank spaces for hackney carriages in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and roughly 800 + Hackney Carriages. It doesn’t take an Oxford graduate to work out that some cars are not going to be able to get on a Rank.

When this equation was recently put to Newcastle Council the reply was, allegedly, “If you can’t get on a Rank why don’t you just go home”  EH!  Does this mean that really there should only be 86 Licences? or is it just a savings scheme, keep issuing licences, keep taking the fees but make them all stay at home. Problem solved, no congestion, no over ranking and plenty cash for the Council coffers. Oh! And if the Taxis do venture out watch them like a Hawk and slap a Parking fine on them if they illegally park, more cash!

Just this evening, Fri 07 Feb 09, a Taxi was ordered by Police to move when he parked in a loading bay adjacent to an already full Rank. When it was pointed out to the police officer that this space was only a designated loading bay until 18.30 hours, he replied “your lights are on you are touting for a fare”  WHAT?  I was under the impression that a Licensed Hackney Carriage was available for Hire anywhere within the area it is licensed for. Is this police officer suggesting that even if the Hack was driving around and was flagged he would be committing an offence and to use the term Touting is also wrong

A tout is someone who acts “in a public place to solicit persons to hire vehicles to carry them as passengers”. Typically they operate in mainline railway stations, airports or other busy public places, and offer a cheaper than standard fare – although invariably the fare finally paid is many times the standard rate. Also touting may invalidate any insurance they may have – and as the touts and drivers are acting illegally it is unlikely they will have specialist hire-and-reward insurance cover. Touting was made a criminal offence in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

A licensed Hackney Carriage, operating in his own licensed area cannot be accused of touting unless he actively solicits or importunes and why would he? He’s been licensed to ply for hire, His car has ‘Taxi’ written on it, he has a ‘For Hire Light’ there is a plate on the rear of the vehicle stating that it is a Hackney Carriage !God save us from the uneducated and let us do what you Licence us for!  This Police officer also stated that they were acting on the instructions of Newcastle Taxi Licensing! Now there’s a Kick in the Teeth if ever I saw one. For Months you complain about everything but a Licensed Hack parking on your Ranks, making their own Ranks, actively Flimping and it all falls on deaf ears! Then they find the money to buy some Police time and come out and harass the Hacks. All those Berwick boys and other Flimpers must be  Pissing themselves(Pardon my French) But come on, what has a Newcastle Hack done to deserve this kind of treatment from the people he pays to Licence him. Newcastle doesn’t know how lucky it is. They have a 1st Class Hackney Carriage Fleet which serves the public faithfully 24/7 throughout the year, through good times and bad. If the Taxi drivers were treat like this in any other Major European City they would bring the City to a standstill, but being British we just take it on the chin and carry on. Basically we are stupid and they know it! Where’s all the ‘Fair Play’  ‘Human Rights’ and all the rest of the new age politically correct garbage that politicians spout about?  Burglars and murderers get more rights than a hard working Taxi driver.  THERE ARE 86 SPACES FOR 800 CARS IT’S A PROBLEM THAT AINT GOING AWAY! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TRY TO BULLY THE DRIVERS! OR HOW MUCH POLICE TIME CAN YOU PAY FOR? WILL YOU SHIFT THESE TAXIS AND THREATEN THEM ON A MATCH DAY, THE TYNE & WEAR DERBY FOR INSTANCE? NO YOU WILL WANT EVERY TAXI AVAILABLE TO TAKE THE CROWDS AWAY. NO PARKING FINES OR ILL INFORMED COPPERS THEN. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. YOU EITHER TRUST THE DRIVERS YOU HAVE LICENCED TO DO THE JOB ‘YOU’ LICENCED THEM FOR AND TO PARK AS BEST THEY CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE PROVIDED OR YOU GET A SECOND RATE SERVICE BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRICED/SCARED THE CARS AWAY FROM THE CITY CENTRE.

The Following was sent in by a Newcastle Hack Driver Re: Thu 06 Feb 09

Is this the start of things to come?
While working in the city centre of Newcastle last night doing what I thought was my job as a hack driver which is to rank up for work or drive around looking for a flag downs. I was disgusted yet again to see the police taking plate numbers of vehicles parked while ranking up for work. These drivers are trying to make a living legally to provide for their families. & have high rents or high overheads before this can be done. It’s not the drivers’ fault that rank spaces have declined & plate numbers increased over recent years due to the Incompetence of the Local Authority. Last night was the last straw for me when a police car pulled up behind a line of Hacks, put the blue lights on & sirens blaring to make all the Hacks pull off that were ranked up for Liquid night club. Would the police & LA prefer the thousands of students that converge on the city centre every night to walk home at risk of being injured walking  up the central motorway as we know has happened a few times in the past with fatal consequences. My advice to all hack drivers’ whether they rent or own their own hack whether they be Asian, white, polish or from Mars would be to too get behind the UITA & start turning up at these meetings. That also includes the drivers who sit at the central station thinking I’m ok jack.

THIS IS A WAKE UP CALL TO ALL DRIVERS.FIGHT FOR WHATS LEFT OF THE TRADE OR HAVE NO JOB AT ALL. NEXT MEETING: 17 FEB 09 AT 7pm AT THE LABOUR CLUB LETS HAVE NO EXCUSES.

Tagged as: berwick, congestion, hackney, Insurance, taxi, taxis, touting