Father of two Debs Mujumdar says illegal taxi rank in North Sydney is putting his kids in danger during daycare pick up

A FATHER collecting his children from a daycare centre on a busy city street is running a gauntlet of illegally parked taxis. And he wants it stopped.

Debs Majumdar with his children Evelyn, 4, and Anjali, 2, on Berry St. Picture: Adam Ward

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A DAD is calling for a solution to an illegal taxi rank in the heart of North Sydney.

Debs Majumdar runs a gauntlet every day he collects his two girls from their daycare centre on Berry St.

He wants to be able to park in front of the building in metered parking spots but can’t because he says taxis are illegally stationed there.

“They are pretty much parking wherever they want,” he said. “Not only in the paid parking spaces but also in the loading zones as well.”

Mr Majumdar has noticed drivers not putting any money in the meter and driving off as soon as a council ranger is spotted. However, within seconds of the ranger disappearing the taxis are lining up to fill the spaces again. The drivers have reacted strongly when he has approached them and have even made abusive hand signals at him.

Taxis parked in metered spaces on Berry St.

“There seems to be a turf war over a turf that doesn’t belong to them,” he said.

“They are monopolising these spots and they are not paying for the right to be there.

“We are willing to pay for it yet we are not able to access these parking spots.”

Mr Majumdar, who works for Fox Sports, has two children with his wife Claire: Evie, 4, and Anjali, 2. They attend the Only about Children daycare.

Mr Majumdar said the centre provides 20 minute free parking in an underground carpark but he has found it doesn’t afford him enough time and would prefer to use the meter.

To park outside he mostly has to park on one of the narrow side streets.

“We are juggling often two or more children and it’s extremely dangerous,” he said.

“You can never predict when one of your kids is going to step out on the road or the other risk is a truck or van potentially just clipping us given how narrow the streets are.”

Police have carried out operations against the illegally-parked cabs in the past.

Mr Majumdar said there needs to be a greater police presence in the area and a serious mandate set out by North Sydney Council to tackle the problem. He also wants the NSW Taxi Council to take action.

A spokeswoman for North Sydney Council said rangers patrol the street up to four times a day at random intervals.

“The Police also patrol the area and we have involved the Taxi Council,” she said.

“We have placed all-day patrols in Berry St, however, we are unable to sustain this in the long term as it diverts ranger resources from other equally important areas such as school zones.”

According to the council, it is an offence for a taxi to park at any location with the ‘vacant’ light turned on other than at a taxi rank and that currently only the police can issue infringements for that offence.

The cabs simply move back to the illegal rank when rangers and police are not present.

“At this point in time council can only issue an infringement if a taxi has parked in a parking meter spot and their ticket has expired. If the driver has paid at the meter, council cannot take any action.,’’ the spokesman said.

A Taxi Council spokesman said lack of rank space in the area had been an ongoing concern.

“The NSW Taxi Council has been seeking more rank space as a result,” he said.

“Representatives of the NSW Taxi Council have previously visited this site to manage drivers and we will again be reviewing our options to ensure all drivers are doing the right thing and not inconveniencing others.”