The new team is helping to keep people safe on a night out in Coventry

A new team of taxi wardens are patrolling Coventry city center – with the aim of making the journey home after a night out safer and quicker. Under the six-month pilot scheme, the group operates from the official taxi stand on Spon Street. The team monitors taxis to ensure all city center pickups are authorized and to check that ranks are only used by black cabs.

Commissioners will also monitor private hire vehicles, which must be pre-booked, to ensure they stop in a safe location, do not block roads or endanger pedestrians. Mohammed Amjad, a taxi driver in the city centre, said: “Before this service was introduced there was no real coordination at taxi ranks.

“For-hire drivers would come in and block the area and we would lose customers as a result. We have definitely seen a change since the program was introduced. It also makes it safer for our customers when trying to hail a taxi. .”

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Coventry City Council has provided training for marshals and the scheme is run by Coventry Business Improvement District (BID). Coventry BID’s street patrol team have also extended their service to patrol around the Skydome and the Spon Street area in the evening to deter crime and anti-social behaviour. It will cover the city’s nightlife hotspots, with patrols taking place every night from 10pm to 4am.

Joanne Glover, manager of Coventry BID, said: “The taxi marshal pilot scheme is going well, with much more orderly parking at taxi ranks, traffic flowing and unauthorized vehicles being discouraged from operating. Night time visitors to the city center can now leave in a quicker and safer way using licensed vehicles, our night patrol team has also intervened in a number of incidents to help people get home in safety and reduce potentially challenging situations.

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