VEHICLES illegally parking on the new taxi rank outside the Castle and Ball Hotel in Marlborough's High Street include police cars, it is claimed.

Cabbies have hit back at a suggestion in a reader's letter in the Gazette from Brian Lovelock that the rank is unnecessary because cabs can never be found there.

Anne Harley, who runs Harley's Taxis, one of the oldest taxi businesses in the town, has responded saying it would not be viable to have a cab sitting at the rank for more than a few minutes at a time.

Mrs Harley also protested that the taxi rank had not been sited by Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council where the cab operators wanted it, close to the bus stops by Lloyds Bank.

Haydn Warren, who runs the biggest taxi and private hire service in the town, Merlin Cars, said in response to Mr Lovelock's letter: "I am glad to see there is one person in Marlborough who knows there is a taxi rank outside the Castle and Ball Hotel.

"It has certainly not encouraged paying customers.

"In fact, all it seems to attract is members of the public's cars and delivery vehicles."

The only vehicles allowed to use taxi ranks within the district were those with hackney carriage licences issued by Kennet, said Mr Warren.

Mr Warren said cabbie Roy Lance, who drives for Arrow Taxis, rang Kennet to complain about unlicensed vehicles using the rank and was told to inform the police.

"They were both police vehicles," said Mr Warren. "We are certainly embarking on a steep learning curve."

Mr Warren said it was not economically viable to have taxis sitting at the rank 24 hours a day.

He calculated that to cover the annual cost of running a vehicle, with a Hackney carriage licence of about £9,500 a year, more than 3,000 fares were needed.

He said that in the last two weeks Mr Lance had picked up just five fares while waiting at the rank.

There are only four taxi operators in Marlborough with Hackney carriage licences vehicles that can use the rank. They are Merlin Cars, Arrow, Harley's Taxis and Dayze.

Mr Warren said: "We are hoping that as people get used to the new rank that some of the booking problems will be eased."

He asked people wanting taxis to make allowance for the fact that in a rural area like Marlborough once taxis left the rank it could be a considerable time before they returned because a journey to a village like Aldbourne would take 30 minutes or longer.

Even if taxis are not present at the rank, Mr Warren said, there was no excuse for other drivers, not even police officers, for parking there.