Kirkcaldy’s Taxi Marshal Presence “Beefed Up”

Kirkcaldy Town Centre Management (KTCM) announced a major step forward in the drive to offer a safer and more welcoming town centre for the thousands of festive revellers expected in the town centre over the next few weeks leading to New Year’s Day.

Starting today (Thursday 30th November), 4 additional taxi marshals will be employed by KTCM to supplement the existing marshals supplied by the night clubs at the Thistle Street Taxi Rank. This new scheme is funded by the Fife Community Safety Partnership, The Exchequer pub, and the taxi operators and is supported by the Police and the night-clubs who recognise the need for a safe environment for the additional numbers of people on a night out. One new innovation will be for private hire vehicles to given a designated area to collect their customers which has been welcomed by the partners – and the Taxi Owners’ Association to work closely with the Taxi Marshals to ensure this operates smoothly.

The operation will be :

· Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights – 11pm until 3am
· Thursday 30th November to Saturday 30th December 2006
· Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
· Sunday 31st December 2006 and Monday 1st January 2007
· One Taxi Marshal will accompany a TOA representative at Charlotte Street to allow private hire vehicles to collect their customers – this is a positive new initiative to allow private hire vehicles access to a central, controlled pick up area.

Sunil Varu, Kirkcaldy Town Centre Manager, stated:

“This particular project brings a disparate set of partners around the table to resolve an issue for the benefit of the community as a whole & I am grateful to the Fife Community Safety Partnership, the Exchequer pub and the taxi operators for supporting the project. The key issues are:

· Allows both taxis and private hire vehicles to operate in the area to take the general public away from the area quickly.
· Gives the general public and vulnerable groups higher confidence that Taxi Marshals will be in the area from 11pm until 3am and therefore if they wish to go home at any time, they do not feel threatened about waiting for taxis.
· Allows the Police to focus on potential conflicts with fewer people in the area.

John Perdrix, Area Manager of the Barracuda Group which owns the Exchequer pub, was enthusiastic in his support
“We consider it a privilege to support this project as a partner and is in keeping with our aims of offering a safer environment for our customers in Kirkcaldy to socialise and go home safely. The partners are confident the project will lead to a better feeling of safety for the general community and the people who will use the town centre’s pubs and clubs for their Christmas entertainment.”