EPPING FOREST: Cabbies claim deregulated fares 'rip off' public (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

EPPING FOREST: Cabbies claim deregulated fares 'rip off' public

3:52pm Monday 1st March 2010 in Epping Forest News By Daniel Binns

RESIDENTS are getting ripped off by taxis in the district because of the council's failure to regulate fares, a coalition of independent cab drivers has said.

The group say that tensions among rival drivers and even between cabbies and customers is reaching boiling point because Epping Forest District Council is issuing too many licenses and at the same time failing to implement the infrastructure to deal with it.

They say the lack of council-set fare metres, failures to crack down on unlicensed cabs and a near-monopoly by the district's big taxi firms of ranks has made their work a living nightmare.

Jamie Goodman, 30, said: “It's only a matter of time before there's going to be a severe injury caused by a confrontation between cab drivers or a cab driver and a customer.

“The number of licenses the council are issuing is a joke. There's just too many of them.

“There used to be about four cabs that waited outside Buckhurst Hill station, but now most of the time there's at least 20, but there's no proper rank. There's arguments all the time.

“If you go to Harlow, or Basildon or Brentwood all the cabs have metres with set fares, but the council here doesn't seem to want that. It means drivers can charge whatever they want and there's nothing anyone can do about it.”

Ron Taylor, 60, said: “We have to pay hundreds of pounds every year for our licence and MOTs but we don't seem to get anything for it in return.

“The situation is getting ridiculous. Some days I work for eight hours but only take home £30. It would make such a difference if there were ranks that we could all use. We keep asking about sharing the rank outside Loughton station, but the council just fob us off and say they're looking into it.”

Hasam Hayirli, 29, said: “The problem is there are just far too many drivers.

“And everyone is charging different prices, so the same journey can be £5, £7 or £8 and it creates a lot of confusion for customers and a lot of arguments.”

A spokeswoman for Epping Forest District Council said: "The council has recently entered into a Taxi Quality Partnership with Essex County Council where we hope to look at ways of improving the taxi service.

"Licensing will invite the taxi trade to come along to meetings to discuss issues that they have raised in this query. We hope that things such as ranks, meters, etc can be discussed at these meetings."