Taxis parked in disabled car parks have riled a New Plymouth resident so much he has taken to photographing them.
Keith Jarman cannot believe the number of times he has seen the “unprofessional and totally rude” behaviour of taxi drivers taking up the vital spots and says they need to sharpen up.
Over three days from June 9 to 12 Mr Jarman caught two New Plymouth Taxi Society vehicles and one Energy City Cabs car in a disabled park outside the Gover St toilets using his cellphone’s camera.
Spokesmen from both companies have said they do not condone the illegal behaviour but the chairman of the New Plymouth Taxi Society said it was unfair to single out taxi drivers when people regularly abused the reserved spaces.
Mr Jarman said he had approached one of the drivers to ask for an explanation and said her attitude was “down right rude”.
“She told me there were no others free and I had just walked past two vacant spaces. It boils down to share bloody laziness,” he said.
“They have their carparks and Joe public can’t park in them, if you do it’s holy hell!”
For someone who is not displaying a mobility parking permit the fine for parking in a designated disabled carpark is $150, as set by the Ministry of Transport.
Chairman of the New Plymouth Taxi Society Morrie Collins said drivers sometimes used the spaces when picking up or dropping off disabled clients.
However, he also felt it was unfair for members of the public to be picking on taxi drivers who had stopped at the toilet to quickly use the facility while working when “you only have to go up to Centre City to see all the flash cars taking up those spaces”. Mr Collins said that people parked in taxi spaces all the time, sometimes for hours, which was not on, but if someone used a taxi stand while “rushing to the toilet” he didn’t think “any driver would complain”.
“It’s better than weeing your pants or something like that,” he said.
Mr Collins would be speaking to the driver and said he wanted to make it clear parking in disabled parks was not appropriate, however he was still “furious at the manner this person has been taking photos of taxis parked in disabled parks”.
“It’s not fair,” he said.
Manager of Energy City Cabs Wally Rongonui also said it was not acceptable for taxis to be in disabled parks unless they were with disabled clients.
“That’s the law,” he said.
Source: Taranaki Daily News
