Taxi cab tyres burst by spikes left on Bridge Street rank
“IT’S someone crazy!” says Stratford cabbie, Greg Rojewski who is furious along with cabbie colleagues that someone is placing nail spike devices on taxi ranks in the town centre causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage to their business.
But of more concern is the threat these spiking devices pose to the safety of children, pedestrians and animals.
“These spikes are dangerous not only to cars but imagine if someone stepped on one it would go straight through their shoes and could seriously injure a child, an elderly person or a dog being walked in town,” said Greg.
“I have no idea who is doing this but it must be someone crazy. I found a spiking device on the taxi rank in Bridge Street on Sunday 30th April and handed it over to a Stratford District Council officer at the polling station in Tiddington on the day of the local elections. I contacted Warwickshire Police but they did not get back to me. I contacted Stratford Police and they said they would keep their eyes open. I know one taxi business owner who has had three punctures on his vehicles and a new tyre can cost anything between £80 to £100 to replace.”
A spokesperson for the district council told the Herald: ”There is no CCTV footage, although our officers are now aware of the incidents.
As our Hackney carriage vehicles use more than one rank in the town, we cannot pinpoint a specific location where the device was placed.
The team initially had one report, but since circulating this information to the drivers, one other driver has recently sustained tyre damage and two had tyre damage in November 2022, which they didn’t report at the time as they thought it was a one-off incident.
No pedestrian injuries have been reported to licensing at the council.”
The district council recently issued the following warning to taxi drivers.
Stratford District Council’s Licensing team has been made aware of a handmade spiking device that has been placed on the taxi ranks in Stratford.
The devise has caused damage to tyres on Licensed Hackney Carriage vehicles and is a severe danger to the safety of pedestrians as well as vehicles.
Warwickshire Police are aware and are asking if any device is seen or found to report it by dialling 101.
If anyone is seen placing items like this on the ground attempting to cause damage to other vehicles, then please call 999.