©SSHCP2014
Press Release
Withdrawal of Q-Safe Taxi Marshal service
It is with great regret that the Safer St Helier Community Partnership (SSHCP) has to announce that the Q-Safe Taxi marshal scheme in operation at the weighbridge is being withdrawn on Friday nights for the month of November 2010.
The aim of the Q-Safe Taxi Marshal scheme has been to provide supervision for the late night taxi queues at the Weighbridge, in order to minimise queue jumping and associated disorder with a view to making residents and visitors feel safer.
The scheme has been a spectacular success, exceeding the expectation of travellers and taxi drivers and reducing levels of crime and disorder by 64% in 2 years. It has won the St Helier Social responsibility award in 2008 and has received recognition by the National Community Safety Network in the UK.
The SSHCP has been working extremely hard to achieve sustainable funding through advertising on and in taxis. Unfortunately one of our major sponsors for advertising inside taxis has pulled out resulting in a shortfall of funding for the remainder of the year.
Colin Russell Chair of the Safer St Helier Community Partnership said "The loss of a major sponsor (360 Vision Jersey Ltd) has come as a great blow to the Q-Safe scheme but the public can rest assured that we are working extremely hard to secure sustainable funding. We have recently submitted a request to the Minister for TTS to issue five extra controlled taxi licences which will enable us, in partnership with the Jersey Taxi Drivers Association, to raise between £10K-15K p.a. and thereby secure the future of the scheme with no cost to the tax payer."
The Q-Safe Taxi Marshals will continue to operate on Saturday nights throughout November 2010 and will revert to normal service on Friday and Saturday nights during December 2010.
Colin Russell said "We'd like to thank CVSS (the security company supplying the marshals) for their understanding and support in this difficult time." He went on to say "it is frustrating that such a demonstrably successful scheme is struggling to continue. We have been left in this situation partly because of the Parish of St Heliers' refusal to honour an agreement to underwrite the cost of the scheme in 2009".
The Constable of St Helier offered to underwrite the scheme in 2008 until such time as sustainable funding was secured. Unfortunately, as a gesture of goodwill the SSHCP pledged to pay back any cost to the Parish. We say unfortunately because the PoSH have used this pledge to backtrack on their commitment, firstly by insisting that monies were paid back within a year and then by suggesting they should be paid back within three years.
Fortunately the Minister for Home Affairs has been very supportive of the scheme and covered the majority of the costs of the scheme for 2008 and 2009 but this has still left a shortfall of over £9,000 up to July 2009. The SSHCP has written to the Constable requesting he honour his commitment, as to date no such undertaking has been received.
Colin Russell said "It is unfortunate that the POSH have seen fit
to put in such stringent demands for repayment especially as we made the
pledge only after the Constable had made his commitment. I wonder how
many other charities have been required to pay back grants. It seems we
are been punished for not wanting to be a burden on the rate payers of
St Helier. This has been dragging on for two years now and has affected
our ability to undertake other initiatives such as an alcohol awareness
campaign in off-licences. We really hope it is resolved soon."
Meanwhile if any organisations wish to make a contribution
to the Q-Safe Taxi Marshal Scheme or wish to advertise their company on
taxis please contact Colin
Russell
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