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Thursday, October 29, 2020 19 HUNGERFORD&LAMBOURNVALLEY Taxi! Town hails new rank NEWBURYNEWS

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A NEW taxi rank has been offi- cially unveiled outside Hunger- ford train station. Up until now, there has only been one taxi rank in the town – which is located under the railway bridge on Station Road. However, this bay is shared with delivery vehicles which bring supplies to the High Street shops and can only be used by taxis from 11am until 7am the next day. But the signage, Hungerford town councillor Rob Chicken recently told his colleagues, is unclear and confus- ing and often leads to arguments between taxi drivers and lorry drivers. Mr Chicken said: “Unfortunately, delivery vehicles can arrive at any time of the day, and usually park there illegally if they arrive after 11am. “And if a taxi is parked there, in between jobs, then there is often an argument. “The situation is not helped by the signage, which is small and unclear in its wording. “The signage is terrible and truck drivers come and try to deliver and you find there is abusive language. “I have been on the phone listening to a taxi driver having abuse thrown at him when he’s sitting somewhere where he has full rights to be. “Nobody should have to put up with that sort of abuse in their work- ing life.” The lines of the new taxi rank, which is located outside the cycle racks at the front of the station, were painted last week and it is now fully

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Remembrance Day HUNGERFORD Town Council has requested that for this year’s Remembrance Sunday, residents Remember From Home. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the council won’t be holding a public event this year and the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) parade through the High Street won’t be going ahead. Instead, the council is encouraging everybody to Remember From Home on November 8. A small private service is being held by the coun- cil on Remembrance Sunday and wreath layers have already been invited to lay wreaths for their groups or organisations. This service will be recorded and will be uploaded to St Lawrence Church’s YouTube channel at noon. The council is also asking the Hungerford community to pay their respects by printing off a simple poppy to colour in and place in windows at home. Alternatively, templates for poppy wreaths are available at https://www. hunger- ford-tc.gov.uk/blob/document/Hungerfor- dRemembranceposterv5_201021_091138.pdf Paper copies are available to pick up from the library foyer.  There is also a Remember From Home poppy to colour in and display in your window on page 23 of this newspaper.

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he had spoken to in the High Street were supportive of the idea. He said the only people who may have an issue with it are the Town and Manor of Hungerford because they have a market stall there on a Wednes- day, but added: “I think with a bit of goodwill we can mitigate that.” However, Mr Chicken was informed by West Berkshire Council that there is a legal process they have to go through to move the taxi rank and that is likely to take 18 months before it can happen. The taxi rank at the station will be managed by Great Western Railway, whereas the one in the High Street will continue to be managed by West Berkshire Council.

up-and-running and operational. Mr Chicken said that having a rank at the station was “what taxi drivers had been waiting a long time for”, adding that when he spoke to one driver recently he was “over the moon about it”. He added: “It’s great news and means visitors coming to our town by train can be sure of getting a taxi as soon as they arrive, and hopefully making them feel welcome.” Councillor Richard Hudson previ- ously said: “It’s good news we have got a taxi rank at the train station. “We have wanted that for a long time. “It’s always been a problem taxi drivers collecting people from the

train getting stuck in traffic. “It’s going to be really useful having it there.” Mr Chicken said the taxi rank in the High Street would have to stay “because there are 26 taxis that bring people to the town, so we must have a collection point and the train station is probably not the best place to do that”. However, Hungerford Town Coun- cil is in discussions with West Berk- shire Council to move the High Street taxi rank to a better location once the Covid situation has eased. The town council wants to try and get the taxi rank put outside the town hall. Mr Chicken said that all the shops

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