June 20, 2008
MANEA: Councillor tells of being a victim of 'road rage' taxi driver
A FENLAND councillor was followed, stopped and sworn at by a taxi driver he had earlier challenged for parking illegally outside a village primary school.
Manea councillor Mark Archer- the only independent member of Fenland District Council- said he had politely but firmly asked the driver to consider using a nearby car park when he dropped his children off at school.
The road rage incident happened last Wednesday after Cllr Archer went to Manea Primary School after receiving a complaint the day before from a resident concerned about illegal parking.
Cllr Archer said he saw the taxi parked illegally outside the school and he went up to the driver and said "very calmly 'do you not pay any regard to driving restruictions?'. "I told him I was a councillor and it was then he started swearing, ranting and raving and told me to 'get a life'
"He told me he would continue to do what he wanted, and I replied that I would be taking his registration number and reporting him to the police."
As Cllr Archer drove off, he realised the taxi was following "with his lights flashing, bleating his horn and at one point he overtook me and blocked me in. He wound down his window and asked if I wanted to take him on. The guy lost his rag."
Council officials checked the taxi's licence and discovered it was registered outside of Fenland.
"He had no reason to park there- we even extended the car park at the village hall to help people dropping off but no one bothers to use it," said Cllr Archer.
He admitted he was surprised by the driver's reaction "since I was going about my normal business and was very polite at all times."
Cllr Archer said he did not want to press charges but hoped police would speak to the driver and alert him to the law about parking on single yellow lines.
"I was, I admit, surprised by his actions," the councillor added. "Most of would have thought it was a fair cop and agree not to do it again- end of story."
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