Taxi ranks idea for Mansfield Market

The idea was proposed at a licensing committee meeting of Mansfield District Council, which heard that Market Place "would be an ideal position for additional taxi ranks."

It was among a number of ideas floated that would improve the service for taxi passengers as well as increase safety.

A lengthening of the Queen’s Street hackney rank was also discussed by the committee.

The minutes from the meeting state: “After much consideration it had been decided that a change to the Queen Street hackney rank would be most beneficial to the public and the trade ,and that a meeting was being arranged with the County Council representatives to progress this”

Afterwards, Councillor Sid Walker said talks with the county council were far from advanced, but confirmed the extension was a plan that Mansfield District Council was backing.

He said: “There has been a request by the taxi operators to extend the Queen Street hackney rank. This is only a proposal and discussions about the feasibility of this idea, between the council and Via, Nottinghamshire County Council’s highways agency, are at a very early stage.”

One proposal that has already been acted on is extra security in Quaker Way, where a camera has been installed, near the rank.

Councillor Sid Walker said: “A mobile CCTV camera has been installed to cover Quaker Way as this was a CCTV blind spot in the town centre and this will help to provide extra security for passengers and drivers using the taxi rank in this street.”

At the same meeting, it was revealed that 43 vehicle licences were relinquished as those private hire drivers and vehicles are now licensed outside

The councillors speculated that it was possibly due to the operator's fees here being substantially higher than other authorities, therefore encouraging drivers to be licensed under other authorities whose safety standards were not as high as Mansfield.