Cabbies ‘driven away’ by abuse from drivers
TAXI drivers claim they are getting road rage abuse because people keep parking at their rank, forcing them into the middle of the road.
The Port Talbot-based drivers said their problems started a year ago, when their taxi rank was moved from a lane just off Station Road, to the main road.
One driver claims he was “swung for” while he was waiting for a parking space and another said someone threatened to reverse into his car in anger.
During the day, there is a designated taxi rank for three or four taxis on Station Road outside Pizza Factory. After 6pm, the whole road becomes a taxi rank.
Neil Rigdon, of Neil’s Taxi, regularly uses the rank and said he’s had enough of the constant abuse.
“We have had nothing but trouble for the last year,” said the 48-year-old.
“People are pulling into the rank so we can’t get on it and we’re having to put our hazard lights on and stop in the middle of the road until a space becomes available.
“When somebody comes back to their car, we have to reverse, let them out and then we can move into their space.
“People are fed up that we are stopped in the middle of Station Road, but so are we. We get people regularly swearing at us and
beeping at us.”
But he said an incident that happened earlier this month had been the final straw for him.
He said: “Someone was arguing with me through my window so I got out to explain I had nowhere to go, I couldn’t help it. He put his car into reverse as if he was going to drive into me, to intimidate me.
“A lot of drivers are too scared to go to the rank and we shouldn’t have to feel nervous to go and do our job. You don’t know what people are carrying these days.
“When you pick people up at night and they are drunk, you expect there to be trouble sometimes – it’s part of the job – but you don’t expect to get abuse
hurled at you at the start of your shift.
“You say to someone nicely ‘this is a taxi rank, you can’t park here’ and I can’t tell you some of the language we get back.”
He said the abuse felt particularly demoralising at a time when many taxi drivers are struggling to get customers.
“With the pandemic, it’s stressful times for us, I made £26 last Friday between 6pm and 11pm and £50 on the Saturday between the same hours,” he said.
“We’re just coming out to try to do our job and are getting abuse left right and centre.
“We wish the taxi rank could go back to where it was, in the lane outside
Brian’s Fish Bar – we were out the way there.
“Before lockdown, a few of us taxi drivers had a meeting with the council and they agreed to get a van out to monitor and fine people, and they did, but I haven’t seen it around since.
“If the council has put something in place, they should make sure it works for us.”
A second taxi driver, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed one angry driver tried to punch him for being in the middle of the road on Saturday evening, September 26.
“I was stopped in the middle of the road, because there was no space and a man was trying to come down the road. I told him to go around me and he started hurling abuse at me and got out of his car.
“I went to shut my window but he pushed it down and tried to grab my keys and then my phone. I grabbed mine back off him and he swung for me and missed.
“It was scary and it is annoying to deal with. All we want to do is go to work and do our job.
“Some of us go elsewhere because we don’t want the abuse every day.”
According to South Wales Police, the force had increased patrols in the area.
A spokeswoman said: “We received a report on October 4 relating to a disturbance at the taxi rank in Station Road, Port Talbot which happened on September 27.
“The report is of a person being abusive to a taxi driver who was double parked. Extra patrols are ongoing in the area.”
A second statement said: “On the evening of October 3, we received a call from a taxi driver reporting that he had been verbally abused by a delivery driver for being doubled parked in Station Road, Port Talbot.
“He did not wish to make a formal complaint. Following the incident, officers carried out extra patrols in the area.”
A Neath Port Talbot Council spokesman said: “We’re working hard to address concerns expressed by taxi drivers in relation to the rank though for highway safety reasons there are no alternative locations. There is conflict for places at the rank with people calling in for takeaways and delivery vehicles parking on the rank.
“Our staff were at the site in January, February and March this year when they effectively acted as ‘taxi marshals’. The council’s enforcement van has also undertaken regular inspections. Now nightlife has resumed we’re again working to resolve matters and identify solutions to address the concerns of those involved which may involve extensions of the taxi rank, further regular visits from enforcement vans and engaging with taxi associations to identify concerns.”