African drivers at 'crisis point'

African taxi drivers are struggling to make a living because they are being left on the ranks for hours as people skip the queue, it has been claimed. Ganiu Badru said the situation has reached crisis point and despite the discussions which took place last week, very little has changed.'The situation is still the same,,' said Ganiu. 'We are left to stay on the rank for two or three hours at a time because people are jumping the queue to the back. We don't want this kind of thing to happen, sometimes the African drivers spend most of the day on the rank because people will go as far back as taxi number eleven.

'We have the same qualifications, the same licence, so I don't know why people are skipping the queue, it is just about colour. If they are not being racist why are they jumping the queue? If you look at the cars being passed over it is all African drivers.'He said African drivers also faced regular verbal abuse from members of the public.'One man said to my friend: 'I hate you, the only reason I picked you is because you are the only one on the rank. They are always using the 'f' word, that kind of thing. It's not right.'Ganiu said he was not holding out much hope of finding a simple resolution to the problem but said a queueing system on the rank would help. 'That is what is needed,' he commented.