Thursday 8 March 2018

AN Uber driver has been fined for putting his car on a York taxi rank.

Khalid Mahmood, 45, of Poplar Avenue, Bradford, admitted waiting on the St Sampson’s Square taxi rank in April 2017. He holds a Bradford private hire licence.

Only York licensed taxi drivers are allowed to use York taxi ranks.

Mahmood was fined £150, plus a £30 statutory surcharge and £200 prosecution costs.

District judge Adrian Lower said York taxi drivers paid for the privilege to use the rank and Mahmood should have checked where he could and could not park in York.

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Black cab drivers today accused Sadiq Khan of failing to do enough to help London’s squeezed taxi trade.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association criticised the Mayor for not listening to its demands to increase the number of taxi ranks in London from 500 to 600.

And the group called for an increase in the number of bus lanes in which black taxis are able to travel, saying it had identified as many as 60 possible extra routes across London.

"The Mayor was elected in 2016 on a manifesto that promised to support the taxi trade,” said LTDA General Secretary Steve McNamara.

"Yet nearly two years later it seems London is stuck in neutral and we are here to help."

But the Mayor’s office hit back at the claims, saying Mr Khan had opened 90 new cab ranks and 18 extra bus lanes to taxis.

The LTDA said Mr Khan had not met them since August 2016, just three months after he took office, and criticised his plans to ban all vehicles from Oxford Street in a radical bid to tackle air pollution.

Mr McNamara also hit out at a traffic ban at Bank junction in the City, introduced in a bid to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians.

Conservative London Assembly member Keith Prince said black cabbies “badly need help” from the Mayor as they faces pressure from rival private hire firms.

Ride hailing app Uber is appealing after being stripped of its licence to operate in London last year amid safety concerns.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: “Sadiq has done more than any other Mayor to support London’s iconic black cabs, which provide an invaluable service for Londoners.”


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Taxi drivers staged a mass protest in Cheltenham today, circling the Municipal Offices to highlight their objections to new regulations.

Around 60 drivers took part in the show of discontent in Royal Well Road and the Promenade, for around 30 minutes, starting at around 1pm.

It is the second time the town’s drivers have publicly showed their fury over Cheltenham Borough Council’s plans to make all taxis wheelchair-accessible, following similar action in August.

The council cabinet voted on Tuesday to make all Cheltenham taxis wheelchair-accessible by 2021.
This will end cabbies’ ‘grandfather rights’, which allow them to sell their saloon car licence.

David Chambers and Garry Knight, both of the Cheltenham Hackney Carriage Association, handed their complaint to a council officer at the end of the demonstration.

The borough council says it is committed to ensuring the 'highest standards of safety for the travelling public' in the vehicles it licenses.


 


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