UPDATE - Newcastle gridlocked over flimping?
By Paul Smith • Jun 19th, 2008 • Category: news
It appears that a prolonged case of “flimping” may have been responsible for serious disruption to traffic in Newcastle city centre at rush hour this evening.
Over two dozen buses remained static for nearly half an hour from Pilgrim Street, down Grainger Street to the roads surrounding Central station.
According to one bus company official, the delays were due to a protest by taxi drivers on Grainger Street. This may have been linked to the ongoing dispute between taxi drivers in Newcastle and Berwick Borough Council.
The council is issuing licences for several hundred pounds less than nearby councils and due to a loophole in the law, drivers can operate their taxis in any other part of the country for private hire only.
In the past two years, the Council has seen an ten fold increase in the number of licences issued, while Newcastle and other areas have seen significant numbers of Berwick-registered taxis on their streets. There have been accusations by local drivers of Berwick taxis illegally picking up fares on the streets, otherwise known as flimping.
It’s not known at this time whether this dispute was the cause of the delays, which crippled the city centre as commuters headed home. Most buses heading South were eventually re-routed over the Tyne bridge while many commuters took to the Metro instead.
UPDATE 20th June, 2008 - The BBC has confirmed mass flimping to be the culprit of last night’s traffic misery. Up to 130 taxi drivers staged a go-slow protest through the city centre, at the actions of Berwick Borough Council.
A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said it always encouraged members of the public to use taxis licensed in the city. In other words kids, don’t drink and flimp.
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Paul Smith is the editor of newcastlecentric.com. He's quite a tall chap.
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I have just read this article and it is full of flaws about the terms “Flimp” and “Flimping”.
Flimping is a term used for taxi drivers who ILLEGALLY ply for hire.
GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!
Yep. The Newcastle taxi drivers have been accusing Berwick drivers of illegally picking up fares that flag them down; the Berwick drivers are licensed only to pick up fares elsewhere that are booked directly. So according to Newcastle drivers, they´ll been flimping.
This action was one fo the main reasons of the protest, so the flimping in turn caused the traffic problems.
And what about all of the newcastle hack drivers who “rank up” at un official ranks like the one outside of Munchies on saint marys place?
That too (to my knowledge) is illegally plying for hire.
Taxis are allowed to be flagged down when on the move but must only “rank up” at official ranks, only a certain number of taxis may wait at each rank (a plate next to the rank will say how many taxis are permitted) and if the rank is full they must carry on to the next rank where their is space for them (another rule which the newcastle drivers ignore daily).
Conduct on Ranks
8. The driver of a hackney carriage shall, when plying for hire in any street or public place, and not actually hired:-
(a) proceed with reasonable speed to one of the stands appointed by the Council under section 63 of the 1976 Act;
(b) if a stand, at the time of his arrival, is occupied by the full number of carriages authorised to occupy it, proceed to another stand;
(c) on arriving at a stand not already occupied by the full number of carriages authorised to occupy it, (i) station the carriage in the direction indicated by markings upon the stand and in one of the vacant spaces indicated by such white lines; and, except where the lay-out of the stand prevents, station the carriage immediately behind the carriage or carriages already on the stand and so on as to face in the same direction; (ii) from time to time when any other carriage immediately in front is driven off or moved forward cause his carriage to be moved forward so as to fill the place previously occupied by the carriage driven off or moved forward; (iii) if such carriage occupies the first or second position on the stand, the driver to remain with the carriage ready to be hired at once;
The problem is Newcastle hackney carriages charge so much, that the public have voted with their feet and use the cheaper and safer private hire companies. This has lead to a decrease in trade for the hackney drivers, who instead of offering a competitive rate, have decided to claim that any car which is not a Newcastle hackney carriage is flimping. Yes the has been an increase of Berwick plated car, but this is due to the fact local councils for years have got away with charging an excessive amount to licence cars and drivers, this has seen drivers turn to Berwick where they can save over £200.
At the end of the day it all comes down to greed by local council and Hackney drivers. If Private hire drivers can afford to drive from Newcastle to wallsend for £9-£10 how come they cant? instaed they charge £20-£25? the public dont like to be ripped off, and as with the Private hire drivers that have gone for the cheaper option with Berwick council, the public have gone to the cheaper Private hire cars.