20/12/2006
Christmas clampdown on rogue cabbies
While seasonal revellers pour into Liverpool city centre to celebrate Christmas and New Year, Police and council officers will be out in force making sure that black cabs are providing the level of service outlined in their licence.
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce's Pub Watch Manager, Joe Curran warned: "There is strong evidence that cabs are not going to ranks but are 'cherrypicking' fares at hugely inflated prices.
"We want visitors to the city to have an enjoyable time and take away a good impression of the city, more importantly they should be able to get home easily and safely without being ripped off."
City Safe, Liverpool's crime & disorder reduction partnership is appealing to cabbies to look after their customers over the festive season and use the ranks provided.
Councillor Dave Antrobus, Executive Member for Community Services, said: "People should always note down the number of the cab and contact the licensing office if they suspect that a driver is cherry picking. We will then send an enforcement officer to investigate. We do run operations in conjunction with the police to catch drivers who don't obey the regulations, but we need the assistance of the public if we are to effectively deal with this issue."
Merseyside Police are providing staff to manage the queues at the Burma Stand rank in Nelson Street, China Town over the Christmas and New Year period.
Cabbies are being encouraged to rank up there and all revellers in the Ropewalks area are advised to use that rank. Police and Council Licensing staff will be out in force to enforce taxi regulation and there will be an undercover operation to snare cabbies who break the rules.
This action is full endorsed by Tommy McIntyre, TGWU representative for the taxi drivers who said: "This type of practice does nothing for the cab trade, we have got 3500 taxi drivers working in Liverpool and the vast majority are decent and hard working, they are all getting a bad reputation because of the actions of a few."
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