Birmingham was plunged into traffic chaos on Thursday when more than 300 embittered taxi drivers flooded city centre streets.
Members of Birmingham and Solihull Taxi Association circled roads around New Street station bringing the city to a standstill during rush hour.
The impact of the congestion, which started at about 4pm in Station Street, Smallbrook Queensway, Hill Street and Dudley Street, caused traffic queues along the A38 stretching back as far as Selly Oak in the south and the M6 to the north.
It followed similar action earlier in the day which also led to widespread congestion across the city.
Irfaan Ahmed, chair of BASTA, denied members were deliberately protesting at the association’s failure to renew its lucrative contract at Birmingham Airport.
He said BASTA members were simply trying to find work and replace the clients they had lost from the airport.
“This was not a protest. They have lost their work at the airport and have bills to pay. They went to Birmingham to work but couldn’t get on any of the ranks so they had to drive around to pick up fares,” he said.
Tempers ran high as the traffic became more congested with horns sounding and many of the public voicing their anger.
Martin Karim, a 54-year-old bar assistant at The Crown pub in Station Street, said: “This is ridiculous. They lost the contract with Birmingham Airport so why aren’t they up there blocking it up. I’m all for earning a living but this is not right. Not only are they not earning money they are stopping others earning as well. They are not doing themselves any favours.”
Zena Roche, 36, from Edgbaston, feared the traffic would deter people from returning to the city today and affect trade at the Bullring Markets where she works.
“The drivers doing that is not going to change anything,” she said. “And it’s everyone else who suffers. It’s stopping people from getting home.”
Steve Bathgate, 53, from Nechells, is also a market trader in Birmingham. He said: “It’s hard enough to make a living out there without this.
“It’s going to stop people from coming into the town if it carries on.”
A spokesman for Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said: “Anything that disrupts the wheel of commerce in the city is to be abhorred.
“It’s not up to the taxi drivers to take it out on the rest of the business community.”
A Birmingham Airport spokesperson confirmed the contract to serve the airport was offered to BASTA drivers on the conditions the airport implemented it’s own management team and the drivers complied with regulations including wearing set uniforms and installing chip and pin machines in their vehicles.
The spokesman said the contract was then awarded to Passenger Transport Solutions after BASTA failed to sign and return the documentation.
She added that BASTA drivers were still welcome at the airport and that there had been no shortage of taxis since PTS took over on Monday.
