Taxi Drivers

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Thu 16 Apr, 2009 9:21 pm

Perhaps the two mountain biking PCSO's who now stand on City Square at the Boar lane junction every evening could be persuaded to wander a couple of hundred yards down the road and start advising the taxi drivers to move on, or perhaps provide them with a ticket for obstruction if they choose not to?The council are constantly fighting shy of taking on the taxi drivers, who have a habit of being very militant if they feel slighted by the authorities.The simple fact is that they are repeatedly obstructing the highway and causing hold ups. If you or I did it in an 'ordinary' car, we'd soon be dealt with.

Leeds-lad · Post by **Leeds-lad** » Thu 16 Apr, 2009 9:49 pm

raveydavey wrote: Perhaps the two mountain biking PCSO's who now stand on City Square at the Boar lane junction every evening could be persuaded to wander a couple of hundred yards down the road and start advising the taxi drivers to move on, or perhaps provide them with a ticket for obstruction if they choose not to?The council are constantly fighting shy of taking on the taxi drivers, who have a habit of being very militant if they feel slighted by the authorities.The simple fact is that they are repeatedly obstructing the highway and causing hold ups. If you or I did it in an 'ordinary' car, we'd soon be dealt with. Just a coincidence then that the Taxi drivers have joined GMB Union en bloc Could this be because the recent figures show that over 50% of licenced vehicles are running illegally-Licences-Mot's-InsuranceFare Hikes etc.Some drivers were supposed to appear in front of LCC Licencing Officers and Nearly 50% didn't even turn up.Apparently LCC want to lower the age of some of these Death traps but they aren't happy about that.We'll soon see how many stick with the GMB if they lose their appeal which in the interests of safety they should do,just an extra thought how many of them declare correct earnings for Income Taxand National Insurance not many is my guess.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Thu 16 Apr, 2009 11:05 pm

The delay over planning permission for the airport extension has nothing to do with "only if you take our cabbies back" has it

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 17 Apr, 2009 10:49 am

I do wish someone in authority would have the guts to sort out the large number of totally arrogant private hire "advance bookings only" drivers who openly obstruct bus stops and tout for casual trade. I have friends who still work for First Bus who have repeatedly asked their firm to do something positive about it but to no avail. Without doubt the worst location is Albion Street at St. John's Centre (both directions) where the stops are often virtually disabled by these tactics. Headingley Arndale Centre is another "hot spot" for the practice. On more than one occasion I've looked meaningfully into these cars, brought out a pen and piece of paper, and problem solved very promptly - the immediate take off speed, prohibited U Turns and no signals etc etc, is a tonic to behold !!

Misc · Post by **Misc** » Tue 21 Apr, 2009 4:52 pm

The double yellow lines on Elland Road outside the stadium also don't apply if you're a taxi driver. My other half complained to the council about this and the response was pretty pathetic, causing much muttering about how much cab firms pay the council in licensing and probably free taxi rides...the taxi situation in Leeds is not good, the black and whites are mainly driven by idiots who don't know where anything is, always take the long way round and are rude. On the other hand some of the minicab firms are excellent, I agree with the person who said flag it down, ring the office and go for it!

Reginal Perrin · Post by **Reginal Perrin** » Tue 21 Apr, 2009 5:25 pm

Misc wrote: The double yellow lines on Elland Road outside the stadium also don't apply if you're a taxi driver. My other half complained to the council about this and the response was pretty pathetic, causing much muttering about how much cab firms pay the council in licensing and probably free taxi rides...the taxi situation in Leeds is not good, the black and whites are mainly driven by idiots who don't know where anything is, always take the long way round and are rude. On the other hand some of the minicab firms are excellent, I agree with the person who said flag it down, ring the office and go for it! Absolutely right. The black and whites are just expensive Private hire and I fail to see the difference to be honest. You don't get to flag them down as they worship their queue at the station and are never anywhere you can flag them down anyway. I don't see how flaging a private hire and booking it there and then is problem, it's logged, it's legal and why should a driver from say, Garforth, drive back to Garforth to it's base if there are people in town who want taking home? Whata waste fo fuel that would be. Much better to park up somewhere and wait for the call.

Post by **tyke bhoy** » Sun 26 Apr, 2009 12:34 am

The not very hopeful response LCC wrote: In reference to this and previous email I am afraid that all I can do is state that discussions are continuous and that the situation is as extremely frustrating to us in this office as it is to you. We have live videos available to us in the Traffic and UTC offices all day long so as you know we are fully aware of what is going on in Boar Lane. With respect, there is no need for you to send photographs of traffic that we can view on live cameras. As you are blatantly aware, the situation unfortunately continues. I would clarify one point that you raise. You claim that the right turn into Mill Hill "....requires the dangerous manoeuvre of travelling the wrong way......". I understand the frustration caused and the reason it is done by drivers. However, I would stress that it is not a requirement, nor do we condone it and that it is the driver's own decision to undertake this illegal manoeuvre. I am aware of information posted on some of the local websites. That of course is your prerogative although I can assure you that many others are already well aware of the issue. I am sorry that I am unable to offer you any further information at the present time. It looks like Taxi drivers have more influence than the people of Leeds. LCC are not prepared to grasp this nettle. BTW the response was cc'd to someone at networkrail and someone at WYPTE so it looks like they are colluding too

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 27 Apr, 2009 9:19 pm

BLAKEY wrote: I do wish someone in authority would have the guts to sort out the large number of totally arrogant private hire "advance bookings only" drivers who openly obstruct bus stops and tout for casual trade. I have friends who still work for First Bus who have repeatedly asked their firm to do something positive about it but to no avail. Without doubt the worst location is Albion Street at St. John's Centre (both directions) where the stops are often virtually disabled by these tactics. Headingley Arndale Centre is another "hot spot" for the practice. On more than one occasion I've looked meaningfully into these cars, brought out a pen and piece of paper, and problem solved very promptly - the immediate take off speed, prohibited U Turns and no signals etc etc, is a tonic to behold !! Surely it wouldn't be beyond the wit of someone at Last Bus to have a couple of spare 'No1' bendy buses on standby and when the bus stops get blocked up simply block the taxi's in for an hour or so? It's certainly no less legal than what the tax' drivers are up to... tyke bhoy wrote: The not very hopeful response LCC wrote: In reference to this and previous email I am afraid that all I can do is state that discussions are continuous and that the situation is as extremely frustrating to us in this office as it is to you. We have live videos available to us in the Traffic and UTC offices all day long so as you know we are fully aware of what is going on in Boar Lane. With respect, there is no need for you to send photographs of traffic that we can view on live cameras. As you are blatantly aware, the situation unfortunately continues. I would clarify one point that you raise. You claim that the right turn into Mill Hill "....requires the dangerous manoeuvre of travelling the wrong way......". I understand the frustration caused and the reason it is done by drivers. However, I would stress that it is not a requirement, nor do we condone it and that it is the driver's own decision to undertake this illegal manoeuvre. I am aware of information posted on some of the local websites. That of course is your prerogative although I can assure you that many others are already well aware of the issue. I am sorry that I am unable to offer you any further information at the present time. It looks like Taxi drivers have more influence than the people of Leeds. LCC are not prepared to grasp this nettle. BTW the response was cc'd to someone at networkrail and someone at WYPTE so it looks like they are colluding too I'd suggest getting the YEP involved - they seem to love having a dig at the council at the moment so would probably be more than interested. I'm 99% sure that the council parking attendants can issue tickets to those taxi's causing an obstruction, so who knows why they don't?

Misc · Post by **Misc** » Tue 28 Apr, 2009 4:35 pm

Spare number 1 buses? More chance of seeing a unicorn if you're trying to go out towards Beeston and Cottingley!Since Friday last week, I have seen 14 taxis illegally parked on double yellow lines and seen one almost cause an accident when it did a U turn in front of the free bus up by Leeds Met. Strange that no taxi parked on double yellows on Elland Road ever seems to get a ticket, but there was somebody busily ticketing a private car parked in the Heaths at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning and it wasn't even a match day...

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 28 Apr, 2009 6:39 pm

Misc wrote: Spare number 1 buses? More chance of seeing a unicorn if you're trying to go out towards Beeston and Cottingley!Since Friday last week, I have seen 14 taxis illegally parked on double yellow lines and seen one almost cause an accident when it did a U turn in front of the free bus up by Leeds Met. Strange that no taxi parked on double yellows on Elland Road ever seems to get a ticket, but there was somebody busily ticketing a private car parked in the Heaths at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning and it wasn't even a match day... With every respect folks, this is the wrong approach altogether. Why on earth should a bus operator go to the expense of putting extra buses on a service when it is the job of the Council/Police/Magistrates to sort this out "good and proper and quickly" !!