Cabbies have stopped picking up passengers from Manchester Airport following taxi rank dispute

Taxi drivers have refused to pick up passengers from all terminals at Manchester Airport as the dispute over a new taxi ranks position remains ongoing.  

The action between Unite the union and Manchester Airport started this Monday and has entered into its fourth day of protests. Taxi drivers are concerned that the new taxi rank on terminal three is not visible to the public and set too far away from the terminal. Drivers are saying that the new rank discriminates against less mobile passengers and Hackney cabs themselves. The new taxi rank has also shrunk in size. The original rank set closer to the terminal had space for 12 taxis, where as the new, less visible rank, will only accommodate four.

According to the Manchester Evening News Yucel Polat, a Taxi driver and Unite spokesperson, said: “We were getting threats and drivers were getting moved on so we moved to a full withdrawal from all terminals. We are getting a strong feeling they don’t want black cabs here. "At international airports around the world the first thing passengers see when they step outside is a taxi rank. But not here.