Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury taxi drivers to carry out mass protest and blockade council buildings

Taxi drivers in Shrewsbury are planning to carry out a "mass protest" blockading council buildings in an attempt to establish an official rank in the town.

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Roddy Doran, spokesman for Shrewsbury taxis, said drivers were planning to congregate outside the Guildhall in Frankwell and Shirehall some time next week in order to get their views across to officials at Shropshire Council.

He said there were currently more than 100 licensed drivers in Shrewsbury who have to wait on the side of the road or in lay-bys for customers as there was no official taxi rank in the town.

But Claire Wild, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for transport and highways, said plans to set up a temporary rank in Claremont Street were still on the table and that sites suggested in the past had been deemed not suitable by taxi drivers.

Mr Doran said: "Shrewsbury is crying out for a taxi rank in the town centre.

"I have given up a lot of my time trying to make the council see we need this. I have been for numerous meetings but got nowhere.

"We can wait at the train station – but only 15 taxis can park there at one time. And with 107 taxis in Shrewsbury it means the ones who cannot wait at the train station are in no man's land.

"We were promised a taxi rank would be set up in Claremont Street but nothing has been said since last year.

"This has been going on for years now and we are all fed up.

"It seems like we are being fed false promises and nothing is happening."

This week taxi drivers in Shrewsbury organised a meeting to discuss their next moves.

Mr Doran added: "At the meeting we decided we are going to blockade Shropshire Council's Guildhall and Shirehall.

"We are trying to give the people of Shrewsbury a great service but this is really holding us back.

"We are one of the main market towns in Shrewsbury but yet there is no space for us.

"We just can't take it anymore - enough is enough."

Councillor Wild said the authority had been trying for a number of years to get a taxi rank sited to serve the centre of Shrewsbury.

She said: "Every time we have put forward proposals they have been met with objections, or they have been deemed unsuitable by the taxi drivers.

"There are also constraints on where a rank can be put, such as the width of the pavement for alighting passengers, gradient of the slope, and being on the left-hand side of the carriageway.

"In order to progress this we are therefore proposing putting a rank in the town centre, under an experimental traffic order, in Claremont Street.

"The taxi drivers are aware of this and it will be put in as soon as it can be arranged by our contractor. Weather permitting and subject to the necessary permits to close the road for a limited period to undertake the necessary work, we are hoping to get it completed by the end of February."

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