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Source: BBC News
About 60 taxis caused a traffic jam in central Manchester as part of a continuing protest about bus lanes.
The private hire drivers are angry that they are not allowed to stop in the lanes to pick up or drop off, while Hackney carriage drivers are.
Organiser Derek Brocklehurst branded Manchester City Council’s policy of using CCTV to catch drivers who flout the rules as “discrimination”.
But the authority said the rules would not be changed.
Drivers travelled in convoy from the City of Manchester stadium into the city centre, before circling the town hall in a go-slow protest.
Mr Brocklehurst, from Audenshaw, said: “We’ve had to take these measures because they are refusing to let private hire use bus lanes.
Mr Brocklehurst said private hire drivers wanted to be treated the same as Hackney carriages
“We’re basically a public service vehicle – we do the same job as a black cab – but our customers are being treated as second-rate customers.
View Video Interview in BBC Post.
“We can’t pick disabled and elderly customers up in bus lanes, which is becoming an increasing problem.
“There are so many bus lanes now in Manchester that run along shops like hairdressers, opticians, doctors, dentists – and basically we just can’t pick them up at the moment.”
There are about 210 miles of bus lanes across Greater Manchester, which can be used by Hackney carriage taxis.
But the council said the rules would not be extended to include private hire vehicles.
Richard Cowell, of Manchester City Council, said: “We are not looking to open up, carte blanche, our bus lanes.
“We feel that would be a retrograde step and would have a very severe impact on the thousands and thousands of people who use buses on a day-to-day basis to get to where they need to go.”
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I certainly think there is a shortfall in Wheelchair friendly Private Hire Vehicles in North Tyneside.
I believe that a Wheelchair user out for a meal or Theatre on a weekend night would find it hard to request a Wheelchair friendly vehicle from there local coastal Taxi firm, because most Wheelchair Access Vehicles based at the coast are Hackney Carriages, and they will be off there respective Office by 22.00hrs on a Saturday night and heading for Whitley or Tynemouth, in which I don’t blame them because things are still slow!
Some of the Berwick Plated Doblo’s have chosen to be “Six Seaters” instead of being standard usage, ie that one at Battle Hill Taxis that has the Drivers private Telephone number on the back of his Berwick Top sign!!
So Mr Walls this is something that you could pursue at your next Forum meeting, more Wheelchair friendly PH, because we don’t have many Bus & Taxi Lanes in North Tyneside to be disputed.
Regards
Stephen
Good on Manchester city council for sticking by its guns. As the hacks need access in & out of the town centres made as easy as possible as this is there main source of work with in the city centre. Not like the private hire trade who work off data systems & radio. So in theory a car that’s already plotted in to the city centre zone should be given the job in plenty of time with out the need to use bus lanes. I all so notice the private hire do a lot of shouting about the disabled in there argument. Yet there not one wheel chair friendly vehicle in the photo. May be its about time private hire were made to have a % of wheel chair friendly vehicle.Or is that not discrimination against the Hacks.