If you want to take a taxi direct from Gatwick Airport, there is currently very little choice available to you. Now the local MP, Henry Smith, has contacted Gatwick owners asking them to give access to more taxi firms at the airport’s two terminals.
Taxi Arrangements
The airport currently has a contract with Checker Cars, which won an exclusivity deal in January 2008 from then owners, BAA. The deal gives Checker Cars taxi booking desks within both terminals and allows its cabs to park right outside to terminal buildings. This agreement is due to end on 1st April.
Campaigners say a taxi direct from the airport to Crawley High Street with Checker costs £16. Other firms only charge £10 for the same journey. To use them though, passengers can only book by telephone and they cannot be picked up at any of the airport’s taxi ranks.
Fairer System Needed
Since the current taxi arrangement came into place, the airport has changed ownership. The current operators, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), acquired the airport from BAA in late 2009.
Henry Smith, MP for Crawley, is urging GIP to scrap the current system and allow greater competition between taxi firms. He said:
“I believe it is important that, where possible, customers are offered a choice. By having multiple taxi firms it will create greater competition in prices. Before Christmas I met taxi firm representatives and they expressed concerns about the current system.”
The manager of a rival local firm, Alpha Cars’ Asif Khan, said:
“It would be fairer if more than one taxi company was given the chance to work from the airport because the customer then has more choice. By giving people different options it would make the price more competitive.”
Peter Hartfield, from Metro Cars, another Crawley based taxi firm, commented: “If you put a hackney taxi rank there it would also alleviate some of the problems of too many taxis in the town centre.”