TAXI drivers in York say they are losing 80 per cent of their custom after being relocated to a temporary rank.

Alterations currently being carried out to Stonebow House mean City of York Council has had to close St Saviourgate rank.

Drivers have been relocated to a nearby spot in Garden Place.

The changes started at the beginning of last week, and are due to last until the middle of February, but drivers say the relocation is hitting them hard.

Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Association, said he and other drivers had lost 80 per cent of their business in the days since the move, due largely to inappropriate signage.

Although there are two large, yellow signs nearby – at the top of Fossgate and Garden Place – he said drivers felt not enough had been done to alert the public to the St Saviourgate rank move.

He said: “Normally, I’ll do £20 per hour in St Saviourgate, and I’ve done about £5 per hour here.

“No-one knows we’re here, we’re unhappy about the signs and we think the council could do more to make people aware of it. They need to engage in more proactive consultation in the future rather than tell us at the last minute.”

Mr Din said while there would ordinarily be 50 to 60 drivers using the St Saviourgate rank on an ordinary day, only 10 to 12 were using the temporary rank.

He said this was also due to restrictions on vehicles turning into the street, with drivers forced to pick up fares then perform a turn in the road before exiting into Stonebow.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said the change was necessary as the St Saviourgate rank could not be used while Stonebow House was being developed.

She said: “Although it isn’t a statutory requirement to create a temporary rank when one is closed, we agreed to set one up and had two meetings with taxi organisations to discuss the requirements of and to support their drivers and customers.

“The location of the temporary rank is clearly signed from the site of the permanent rank on St Saviourgate, with supporting signage to assist customers along the stretch of road between the two ranks. However, the signs have been moved on a number of occasions by an unknown person or persons.”

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CHELTENHAM

 Private hire driver Keith Lewis has lost his licence after he accrued 12 penalty points for driving at excess speed on four separate occasions.

He was prevented from doing his job a year ago because of the matter but it has only just been revealed by Cheltenham Borough Council.

It did so when announcing that it had been awarded £838 in costs following the last-minute withdrawal of an appeal against its licensing committee’s decision.

In January 2017 the committee revoked Mr Lewis’ private hire driver’s licence after he accrued the penalty points for speeding. He did not declare any of the penalty points to the council as required under the terms of his licence and the committee felt that the facts showed he was not a fit and proper person to hold a licence.
Hackney carriages and private hire vehicles are both licensed in Cheltenham by the borough council

His licence was revoked with immediate effect in the interests of public safety.

Mr Lewis subsequently lodged an appeal with Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court which the council contested, but he withdrew it on the morning of the hearing. The council pursued costs to cover its expenses in contesting the appeal. On Monday, the court decided that Mr Lewis should pay to the council the full costs of the appeal, amounting to £838.

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CORNWALL

 A Bulgarian taxi driver who loved living in the UK so much he became a British citizen was found dead after receiving letters from Cornwall Council warning him that his license was under threat.

The body of Yordan Borisov, 42, from Sennen, was found at the bottom of cliffs at Land’s End on September 23.

Yordan was described by people as a hard worker, a man “who never asked for anything” and was life and soul of the party.

An inquest held in Truro to determine the reasons behind his death heard from Detective Constable John Dash, from Penzance Police Station, who said Yordan came to the UK more than 10 years ago and worked as a taxi driver for about six years, building his business from scratch.

DC Dash said police were contacted at 10.27am on September 23 and attended the car park at the Land’s End Hotel where they found his car with a door open and music still playing.

Police joined the search along with the RNLI and the coastguard before the RNLI found his body in the water.

A cause of death was given as a blunt force trauma consistent with a fall from a height.

A statement from Yordan’s brother Boris Borisov was read to the inquest and gave details of a conversation between the pair shortly before his death.

Boris said he and his brother spoke every day and that he knew Yordan had had problems with Cornwall Council which contacted him about complaints it had received, saying he may lose his licence.

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