Source: Belfast Telegraph
A war of words has erupted between Belfast’s taxi drivers. The conflict between public hire taxis (black cabs) and private hire taxis (such as Value Cabs) has been simmering for years, but is set to heighten as a series of new black taxi ranks are about to be announced in the new year.
One senior representative of the private hire industry said the behaviour of black cab drivers is creating a bad impression for visitors to Belfast.
“They park on the bus lanes outside the station, get out of the vehicle and stand at the doors shouting ‘Taxi’,” he said.
“They park on double yellow lines at the bandstand at Victoria Square and nobody does anything about it. You and I couldn’t pull in there and pick someone up, and it makes it impossible for disabled people to embark as they completely block the roads, but they seem to get away with it.
“If anybody else comes to pick a fare up, they give them abuse. It goes on every day and it’s getting worse. The DoE keeps giving out licences — it was 400 three years ago and now it’s up to 700.
“We’ve gone to every relevant MLA and committee and we feel we have educated people about our position but nothing has changed. The enforcement authorities — the DoE, DRD and PSNI — do nothing basically.
“You’re only allowed to ply for hire if you’re in a public hire taxi — they can be hailed on the street so they don’t need to park on double yellow lines and block bus lanes.”
But Tommy Doyle, chairman of the Belfast Public Fire Taxi Association, paints a different picture, saying no-one is doing anything to enforce the rule that says private hire taxis can’t be hailed on the street.
“Our view is that the Belfast public hire taxi are the only yellow plated taxis and the only legal taxi allowed to pick people up on the street,” he said.
“If someone sticks out their hand, private hire taxis just stop and lift them, and as far as we are concerned DoE enforcement aren’t doing anything about that situation.”
A PSNI spokeswoman said police are committed to taking positive action to address breaches of parking and waiting restrictions.
“These issues receive police attention consistent to the other demands placed upon resources,” she said.
“We do not set up specific operations to target this — however local police react to reports when informed.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
years ago there was about 20 or 30 black taxis in belfast this worked fine for everybody taxi driver and punters. paramilitary organisations in belfast seen an easy way to muscle in on the black taxis the men who were original driving black taxis jacked in. we are now left with 600 johnny come lately taxi men these people dont have to do any extra test . they just buy a black taxi usually for lless than a thousand pound get it plated hey presto im a black taxi driver my yellow plate makes me a hard man instantly i can then sit anywere i like bully other taxi drivers and shout abuse at members of the public who dont like my sales talk. i must go to primark and get my belfast public hire uniform sloppy joe t shirt dark grey or black with built in spaghetti stains dark blue track trousers with shit catcher bottoms 4 sizes too big high tec guddies size 11 turned up at front jacket is optional addidas with stripes down sleeve or diadora northern ireland jacket i can now start wearing old belfast cap or monkey hat even in the summer . i can now stand at the city hall with my hands down the front of my balls criticizing other taxi drivers the police the doe taxi enforcment valu cabs puers again other taxi drivers doe again puers ….sick of this job im goin back into bins donkey jacket out of the taxi for sale sign on the window extra rub on ballbag sniff fingers do u want a taxi ar kid .how much is it to andytown £25 quid ar kid .what.away ann fuck ur self
that is hilarious and so so true! but as bob dylan said “the times they are a changing”