Cab marshalling scheme axed

A taxi marshal scheme aimed at reducing booze-fuelled trouble among late night revellers waiting to get home from Walsall town centre is to be scrapped.

The marshals who help co-ordinate people into taxis on Friday and Saturday nights will be axed by Walsall Council in the next two months.

The scheme, originally piloted last year, has proved popular but is being abandoned by council chiefs to claw back cash. It operates at taxi ranks involving black cabs or Hackney carriages in Lichfield Street and Bradford Place on Friday and Saturday nights.

Extra nights were added over the Christmas period to help people enjoying a night on the town to get back to their homes as safely and quickly as possible. It runs from 12.30am until 3.15am in Lichfield Street and from 3.30am to 5.30am in Bradford Place.

Violence was reduced according to a report into the scheme's trial last year, while it also emerged that, because of the scheme, Hackney cab drivers were now less likely to overcharge their passengers or refuse to take them short distances. Councillor Rachel Walker, of Walsall Council's decision-making cabinet, said: "Although the scheme has been well received we have not been able to identify permanent funding for the scheme beyond March.

"At a time of budget pressures we now have to make some tough choices and if the choice is between a home help and a scheme to help people home after a night out then I'm afraid that we must favour the home help."