Lack of signs having 'massive effect' on Worcester's taxi trade say drivers

A temporary taxi rank was set up in Angel Street in Worcester in the summer to replace a number of spaces shut off to allow for the council to carry out resurfacing work and improvements to The Cross.

Frustrated taxi drivers waiting at the passenger-less temporary rank in nearby Angel Street said on Tuesday (October 4) that the ongoing work in The Cross and the lack of signs were having a huge impact.

Shaukat Ali, 52, who has been a taxi driver for 17 years, said: “We’re trying to provide a public service at the end of the day and we can’t do that at the moment.

“Sometimes we are sitting in traffic for half an hour and not going anywhere. Who is that helping? It’s hitting the customers because they have to pay more.

“There are no signs to tell people that they should come here instead and it’s having a massive effect on trade.”

FRUSTRATED: Taxi driver Shauka Ali (Image: FRUSTRATED: Taxi driver Shaukat Ali)

READ MORE: National Theatre director Rufus Norris leads call to protect Worcester’s Swan Theatre

The lack of signs was discussed by Worcester City Council’s licensing and environmental health committee at a meeting in the Guildhall last Tuesday (September 27).

It was expected the signs would be erected quickly but they were still not in place a week later.

Cllr Cronin said the decision to close the taxi rank in The Cross without much warning had been met with “unified horror.”

“At the last minute we were promised that those ranks [in The Cross] would only be closed for three days and as far as I can tell between that meeting [in June] and now, they’ve probably only been open for three days,” he told councillors.

“What I think makes the situation worse is that there is no visible sign to the general public redirecting people looking for taxis on that Cross rank to the temporary rank in Angel Street.

“I’ve been up there almost every day during the summer and I have never seen a sign. I’ve been told there’s a sign there but it’s very well-hidden.”

READ MORE: Active Travel England gives Worcestershire County Council zero rating

Asked what had happened to the signs, Niall McMenamin, from Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said: “Well clearly it isn’t if that’s what people are saying.

“It was, because I was receiving complaints from the county council that the rank put in place in Angel Place was not being used and the public were following the signs and standing there for a period of time without any taxis being there.

“At one stage there was a sign, whether it has been removed, I can look into it certainly to make sure it’s put back in place.”