Shropshire Star

Watch: Taxi goes the WRONG WAY on Eastern Primary in Telford

A taxi driver has been suspended from his job after footage was posted online of him driving the wrong way down one of Shropshire's busiest roads.

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Motorcyclist Richard Page, from Telford, took the video of the Go Carz driver with his helmet cam on Sunday morning - capturing the taxi driving the wrong way on the A442 Eastern Primary in Telford.

He put the video on Facebook and YouTube yesterday, commenting: "Silly taxi driver at half 5 in the morning, very dangerous."

By Monday, more than 300 people had viewed the video on YouTube and it had almost 1,000 shares on Facebook and attracted hundreds of comments from concerned motorists.

Go Carz said it would be carrying out a full internal investigation into the incident before making a final decision on his future.

Director Robin Gibson said he believed the driver appeared to have slowed down or come to a stop to rectify his mistake.

He said: "We have become aware of a video recording made by a vigilant motorcyclist who was recording on a helmet mounted camera early Sunday morning.

"In it, one of our self-employed drivers is seen to be heading down the wrong way on the Eastern Primary dual carriageway in Telford.

"The driver was heading away from the Aqueduct Island on the A4169 which is single track and then opens into dual carriageway just before the Madeley/Bridgnorth slip road on the way to Telford town centre.

"It appears the driver has found him or herself on the wrong side of the chevrons and safety barrier and has already realised his or her mistake and is slowing down in an attempt to rectify the mistake."

Mr Gibson said the firm had started an immediate "internal investigation" to identify the driver.

He said the driver would be "disciplined accordingly" once his identity had been established.

The company then tweeted yesterday afternoon: "A driver has been suspended while we investigate this incident."

Mr Gibson continued: "All drivers are obliged to take a stringent council driving assessment and we at Go Carz take safety issues of all road users and passengers extremely seriously.

"We are one of the only private hire firms in the Midlands to advise all of our drivers to undertake an NVQ in Road Passenger Vehicle Training, and the vast majority have passed their qualification.

"We are absolutely committed to having the highest possible standards of driving at Go Carz and can assure passengers that we are taking immediate action in relation to this incident."

In the video, you can see the motorcyclist heading along the road, before slowing down while spotting the car facing the wrong way on the opposite carriageway.

The motorcyclist is seen waving towards the driver to warn him about what he is doing.

Go Carz has bases in Telford, Shrewsbury, Walsall, Stafford and Wolverhampton.

A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman said: "We can confirm the driver in question is licensed by Wolverhampton City Council, where Go Carz also has a depot. Even though the driver isn't licensed with Telford & Wrekin Council, we are working very closely with Wolverhampton Licensing Service to ensure they take the necessary action. Because this happened on one of our borough's roads, as soon as we saw this video on the Shropshire Star website, we asked for an urgent investigation and to be kept updated."

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