Car and taxi chaos at Wolverhampton train station after multi-million revamp
Drivers, commuters and neighbours are facing daily chaos at a railway station, it has been claimed.
The revamped entrance – off Corn Hill Wolverhampton – has been labelled ‘hectic’ with traffic clogging up the new access road and neighbouring streets.
The newly-designed route, which is part of the city’s £132 million Interchange improvements, opened on January 8 but has been criticised for not having enough bays for taxis picking up and dropping off rail users.
There are 13 spaces for black cabs only at the new entrance but dozens of private hire taxis are also heading in and out alongside other traffic.
Nearby Bailey Street has been opened up for private hire drivers to wait along while congestion clears outside the station.
But business owners say there is no way of them knowing when it is clear to move on. along Bailey Street.
Jamie Atkins, licensee of the Great Western Pub on Sun Street, which backs onto Bailey Street, said: “It is chaotic and very hectic. I just hope that this is only short term and a long term solution is brought in.
"Taxi drivers have to keep driving around the area non stop because they never know whether to filter through, or stay where they are.
“I also had an issue of them leaving their engines on and customers in the pub garden complained of the fumes but that has now been resolved.”
Taxi driver Sohail Khan, aged 39, said: “It is a complete mess.
“The council introduced taxi marshals to try and help but they have no power over the public parking in the wrong place.
"They can just tell the private hire drivers to move. But there’s still a big issue of not having enough space for black cab drivers or anyone who has pre-booked a cab to pick them up. The delays are ridiculous at peak times and people are getting frustrated.”
The entrance has been labelled a ‘mess’ by one driver who feels that nothing has been done to help alleviate the problem.
Driver Emily Lawton, 30 of Merry Hill said: “I come here more or less every day to pick up a family member. It is a lot worse here in terms of congestion than it was on Railway Drive.”
Pedestrian Paul Murphy, aged 42, is a support worker in Birmingham who lives along nearby Albion Street. He said: “It’s unbelievable now along my road.
“Admittedly it was worse when the taxis were using Albion Street as the filter rank but you still get a lot of traffic. You can’t pull out from Albion Street onto Corn Hill because someone is always blocking the way.
“The noise is atrocious too when people get frustrated, papping their horns. I’ve lived on Albion Street for four years and when I first moved in it was dead, so quiet. Now it’s nothing but noise and traffic.”
Councillor Udey Singh, Conservative councillor for Tettenhall Regis ward, said: “There has been a serious design failure.”
Councillor Milkinderpal Jaspal, Labour councillor for Heath Town and cabinet member for governance, said: “There needs to be an urgent review of the situation at the railway station entrance.
“We have spent a lot of money on the new entrance and have not necessarily received the outcome we first envisaged. Congestion is still an issue and a lot of that comes from taxis.”
When the marshals are there, it is a lot calmer, but without them, it is chaotic.”
The councillor has suggested that the council look at alternative nearby land as the space for taxis or the now redundant Railway Drive former black cab rank that was closed when the new entrance opened.
Railway Drive has now closed to motorists and eventually the works will also see a Metro line extension running down the drive to a new stop.
