Taxi sales fare income has suffered from the spell of severe snow and ice experienced across much of the UK over the past few weeks. And in many cases, taxi drivers have been left angered by a lack of gritting on the roads, leading to treacherous driving conditions.
Northern Exposure
Taxi drivers and operators in Blackpool were left furious at what they described as the “embarrassing” road conditions. Graham Smith, of Blacktax, said: “We’ve 70 cabs and many of them had to finish early because they would have been putting lives at risk.
“The roads were treacherous – I was out all Friday night and from about 6am on Saturday and I could tell the roads were not gritted. Cars were skidding all over the town. We’ve lost thousands of pounds.”
Blackpool Council insisted that roads had been gritted but Steve Kay, an independent driver, stated: “The key roads were closed and I didn’t see one gritter over the weekend, the town was a death trap.
“I had to give up hours before I normally clock off on a Sunday morning and there were hundreds of people needing a ride home.”
Taxi Chaos
The winter weather bit deep into the south of England as well. Down in Dorset cabbies encountered heavy snow causing chaos, again with an apparent lack of road treatment.
Taxi driver Bill Edwards, of Radipole, said: “Some of the main bus routes were not even gritted. It’s appalling.”
In much of Scotland, driving conditions proved treacherous for several weeks. Some taxi operators say they were forced to cut the number of cabs on duty, with a resulting fall in taxi sales income. Taxi drivers who were able to work encountered blizzard conditions, fog and icy roads, with temperatures failing to get above freezing even during the day.
Even so, roads authorities seemed slow to get going with gritting operations, although the situation now appears to be improving as most areas get up their gritter teams up to speed.