Taxi advertising will pay for marshals
Saturday 10th October 2009, 2:56PM BST.
From left: Jonathan Williams, of Barclays Wealth; partnership chairman Colin Russell; Taxi Drivers Association president Dickie Warren; cab driver Brian Rea; and taxi driver Eddie Watson. PICTURE: TONY PIKE (00806766)
AN initiative has been launched to raise the £25,000 needed to save the St Helier taxi marshals scheme from being scrapped.
Cabs can now carry advertising for the first time and the cash from that will to keep the taxi marshals in place. The target of £25,000 would pay for the service for year.
Colin Russell, the chairman of the Safer St Helier Community Partnership which is made up of businesses, the police, parish officials and others, revealed that the marshals had ‘faced a fight for survival’.
He said that the marshal scheme would have been pulled in a matter of months if a new money-making scheme had notbeen thought up.
Mr Russell said: ‘We couldn’t keep relying on the States for funding and didn’t want the marshal system to be a burden on the taxpayer. The situation we were facing was that we would have had to stop the taxi marshals because of lack of funding.’
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Why do we want taxi marshalls at all when we are constantly being reminded how safe St Helier is at night
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Maybe they could use the income from advertising to reduce their fares…..then more people might even use them!
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Not wishing to sidetrack this thread BS Deluxe is right – the cost of taxis is outrageous in Jersey. Myself and my wife had lunch at a local restaurant and took a taxi from Grouville to Longueville, a 5 minute jourey and it cost £12.
£12 for 5 mins work, who do they think they are – dentists?
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Great idea,the marshalls have bought order and safety to what could be a perilous excercise..previously.there were some bad assaults with people que jumping and pushing in,if you are cold ,anxious to get home or had a few you want your taxi a.s.a.p and as hassle free as poss…the marshals provide order and that extra safety for driver and passenger…
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This is an excellent scheme and people are now much happier to queue for taxi after a night out knowing that they won’t be hassled by drunks.
Well done Colin Russell for using your iniative in saving the taxpayer money whilst retaining this worthwhile scheme.
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The marshall idea is a very good one but I don’t think that it should be needed.
I recall that a senior casualty doctor recently remarked that a large amount of often serious assaults take place in taxi rank queues.
Since we know that it happens and where it happens, surely the correct way to look at the problem is quite simple. Where on earth are police officers at the relevant time?
I saw an officer on the beat late one night in the Springfield area and it made me realise how seldom one sees officers on night patrol. This cannot be acceptable, especially given that the police are aware of the given problem.
It is brilliant to see the taxi drivers taking responsibility but it seems completely wrong that they should have to foot the bill. I noticed that the driver above commented that they could not keep going to the States for money but why not? Is that not why we employ police officers through our taxes? It is the duty of the police to maintain public order.
Where will this all end? Will each member of the public eventually be obliged to employ a private bodyguard because the police “service” no longer exists in any meaningful sense?
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6. Clown Advocate – The police can’t be everywhere and basically the taxi ranks need to be policed over extensive periods which just isn’t possible for the States police – it would cost a fortune, so this scheme is brilliant – particularly if it can de achieved without the poor long-suffering taxpayer footing the bill!
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Yes,Mrs Macon. The scheme is, as I said, brilliant.
The fact remains though, that the location of the problem [and probably the approximate times of potential trouble as well] is a known quantity. The fact also remains that it is the duty of the police to enforce the law and to maintain public order.
And as for the “long suffering public” footing the bill; we already do through our taxes. If we are not paying for the police then why have them at all?
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I don’t understand this. How is it that the taxi drivers have to pay when there is a police force in Jersey. Where are the bobbies?
Hang on, just forgot. They are in their cars hassling motorists.
When did anyone last see a policeman on night patrol? Perhaps Durell might be interested in this endangered species………………
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Will the taxi drivers be seeking a reduction in income tax?
It seems to me that they should get one because they are not receiving the police service which they have paid for.
Neither have the public at large in this case.
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Funny old world isn’t it?
Restaurants, bars and clubs service the needs of drunks then it is the duty of the police, marshalls and cab drivers to get them home safely. Not to mention the puke clean uppers.
Has anyone stopped to ask why on earth we tolerate and even encourage this leisure pastime for those who no doubt are such a vital part of Jersey’s economy in their daytime jobs.
Jekylls and Hydes in our midst it would seem.
Money to be made. The answer behind everything.
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Yes indeed. The problems attached to people being drunk and disorderly in town needs addressing but it probably won’t be.
Perhaps the licencing trade might put its hand in its pocket to help the taxi public service, although they shouldn’t really have to because that is why we pay for police through our taxes.
If it weren’t for all the noise and other unpleasantness, St Helier might actually be somewhere where people would want to live……
Are the police having a nice cuppa cocoa at the station while all this is going on?
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If the police can hang around outside haut de la garenne for months on end they should be able to make sure that public access to taxis is safe and orderly.
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There are plenty of CCTV cameras around St Helier so a police “presence” is not essential. However, a quick response unit is essential to tackle any unsocial behaviour immediately. This cannot happen from Rouge Bouillon because the perpetrators would be long gone by the time they arrive so why not establish a command post of some sort in the centre of town as a deterrent. this may alos help to cut down shoplifting and illegal parking in town (so they can make money through fines too).
What law enforcement authority and/or power does the marshall have? Are they considered equal to police or are they really just glorified honoraries and the taxi drivers are sharing the cash with them to keep them quite about it?
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Clown Advocate
The night clubs feeding the mob with drink pay for their own security staff to protect their law abiding customers, are you suggesting we should prop a police officer against every bar in town to make sure the bar staff do not break the law and serve someone who is already drunk ?
That would cure the problem at a stroke, but would you be prepared to pay the bill? I wouldn’t.
At the moment we have the Taxi drivers using an up till now unavailable source of income to protect “their” customers with personnel who will be on duty at the rank only and will not be called away to another incident 2 minutes before an innocent gets head butted at the rank.
As for bobbies on the beat. lets get real here, how many do you want ? one on every street, or as you are asking the bobby to respond to violence,2 or maybe 3 per street?
In these days of mobile phones in everybody’s pocket a mobile patrol can respond to a call to the weighbridge from St Saviours rd faster than a beet bobby at Snow Hill, its called using ones resources efficiently.(not too sure that word is in an advocate vocabulary when associated with costs)
I challenge you to drive around town between 02.00 and 03.30 on a Friday and Saturday night (sober of coarse) and note how many beat cops you do see, you will be surprised.
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Clown Advocate,
Why should the police have to use valuable time and resources babysitting drunk people? The drink problem rests with the public houses, which are regulated by Government.
A policemen friend tells me they have to spend between a third and up to half of their time filling out paperwork to stop Advocates, as you profess to be, getting their client’s off on technicalities!
I think you are not an Advocate, for if you were surely you would agree to this proposal.
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#11 Well said! In these cases it is the pub/restaurant industry that is giving people the drinks that make them drunk, even though, if I’m not mistaken, it is against the law to serve someone that has clearly had too much already.
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Titmus at 16 said:
“A policemen friend tells me they have to spend between a third and up to half of their time filling out paperwork to stop Advocates, as you profess to be, getting their client’s off on technicalities!
I think you are not an Advocate, for if you were surely you would agree to this proposal. ”
In response:
Misuse of apostrophe at plural of “client”.
It is the job of the police to make sure that a prospective prosecution is proprly dealt with. It is the job of the defence advocate to ensure that this is so. A competent police officer would not have made the given comment.
An advocate [in so far as it might be relevant] would be aware that the duty of the police is to maintain public order.
Let us not use this forum please to descend into personal comments regrding other users and their status.
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Commentator Plod at number 15;
“Clown Advocate
The night clubs feeding the mob with drink pay for their own security staff to protect their law abiding customers, are you suggesting we should prop a police officer against every bar in town to make sure the bar staff do not break the law and serve someone who is already drunk ?
That would cure the problem at a stroke, but would you be prepared to pay the bill? I wouldn’t.”
You have failed to see that there is a difference between private, licenced premises and the public streets of town.
Yes, the licencing trade does self police according to the terms of its licence. It will, generally, call upon the police as back up.
A public taxi rank, on the other hand, is a public area and, as such, should be properly policed.
It cannot be right that the police, who are paid for from our taxes, can effectively wash their collective hands of a problem which is known to exist.
Some people can agree with this, some cannot. Presumably those who disagree will not expect any police response if and when they find themselves personally involved in an incident.
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Why would anybody with any sense disagree with St Helier being properly policed by proper officers?
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To all the people here who seem to think that it is a poor use of police time to maintain order at the taxi ranks, consider the following.
There must be officers who are on duty in any event and who are probably not always on a particular call. In that scenario, no extra cost is involved, even though that should not, for reasons well explained elsewhere on this forum, be an issue.
Rather more seriously, it is known that a number of serious assualts have taken place, some of which have required surgical intervention.
The cost of such medical treatment is very considerable and, quite clearly, far more than would have been the cost of having a police presence at the rank at the relevant times.
The historic apparent failure by the police to do its job in this instance will undoubtedly have saved the police money as a department.
It will not, however, have saved the taxpayer anything at all. Quite the contrary in fact!
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As been said many times, its illegal to serve alcohol to someone thats drunk! and its drunk people who fight at night in town! still the money made from taxing alcohol helps the states spend more on things like steam clocks, Sighns that have no real meaning and free parking for states members. No wonder they never adress the problem in town at night on a weekend! other wise something would have been done a long time ago. Money money money!!!
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Mr Snozcumber thinks that any legal professional would agree to the streets of St Helier not being policed!
I wonder why?
Does he think that doctors would say the same thing? What about clergymen?
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Titmus Snozcumber writes:
“I think you are not an Advocate, for if you were surely you would agree to this proposal.”
What a fascinating logic. What would be the answer if I were only an advocate in my spare time?
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Queens Counsel,
Thank you for being the grammar monitor, which is probably your best skill, although you should check the spelling of “proprly” in your 6th paragraph.
Do you have any idea of the amount of paperwork a policeman has to complete for one arrest, and how long that takes, or do you just pick through the paperwork, and look for mistakes in the grammar!
Clown Advocate,
Exactly the same, why would it be any diffrent!
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I don’t think we really need to go into the matter of police paperwork.
Yes, paperwork is a pain. But then, that is the price which we pay for something which is known as “due process”.
I would expect that Mr Snozcumber, if he were arrested, would expected to be treated in accordance with law and I would further expect that he would, quite reasonably, expect his advocate to take all steps to ensure that the prosecution has acted properly.
Or perhaps not?
More to the point, why are police officers not policing the taxi ranks? Why is the job left to civilians who, by definition, have no police powers?
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With regard to grammatical errors on this site:
Spelling mistakes are caused, usually, by typographical error.
Misuse of apostrophe is generally caused by ignorance of basic grammar.
Mr.Titmus Snozcumber.
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Titmus Snozcumber said:
“Queens Counsel,
Thank you for being the grammar monitor, which is probably your best skill…………….”
Yet another personal and misinformed comment from this commentator. It is clear that this gentleman cannot have anything of substance left to say!
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Titmus, on the one hand, you seem to be saying that you object to police supervising the taxi ranks.
On the other hand, at 25 above, you seem to be suggesting that the police do away with legal paperwork and that a defence lawyer should not review those papers on behalf of the client.
No police at all in the first scenario and a police state in the second. Are you making this up as you go along, please?
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I see your logic, Titmus.
Let’s have no police on duty, so there will then be no paperwork. Nice one.
And let’s have no advocates in practice unless they happen to agree with your view.
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There did use to be a police station in the middle of town but it is now gone.
Why not reinstate it somewhere near the taxi rank?
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Clown Advocate
Taxis are licensed, and its their customers who are waiting at the rank, why shouldn’t they contribute to their safety. If taxis were deregulated (trade protectionism lifted and mini cabs allowed)there would be no queues to police anyway.
I ask again how many beat cops would you like per street? and how much would you accept your taxes to rise to pay for them.
OR
How about letting those that know carry on doing a excellent job with beat and mobile manning levels backed up by CCTV and control room staff, you know 21st century policing not the 18th century night watchman stuff you are advocating where a lone cop gets his head bashed in.
once again I challenge you to drive around the hotspots of town early morning and count the bobbies on foot.
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