TAXI drivers have been labelled 'inconsiderate' and 'lazy' for causing traffic chaos outside a railway station.

Drivers are fed up with the daily mayhem in Trinity Street, Bolton town centre, where private hire cabs regularly stop in the middle of the road to pick up or drop off passengers — even though there are often parking spaces just a few yards further down the road's lay-by.

Commuters, buses and Hackney carriage drivers have faced major delays around the junction of Trinity Street and Newport Street for years, but their problems have deepened since a revamp of the town centre's road network.

Now that Great Moor Street is one-way, traffic must travel down Newport Street and turn left to access Bradshawgate, Manchester Road, or the A666.

That means that more vehicles than ever are forced through the Trinity Street bottleneck, where arguments regularly break out between drivers.

Cllr David Chadwick, Bolton Council cabinet member for highways, said: "We have been concerned for a number of years about taxi drivers just pulling up in the middle of the carriageway in Trinity Street. They are causing mayhem.

"It is not just that you have taxis stopping, but there are also passengers getting out of the vehicles in the middle of the road.

"It is a complete and utter aberration and an accident waiting to happen.

"We have looked at a number of options to stop it from happening, but it hasn't been possible.

"We would like to be able to prosecute people who do it, but we aren't in a position to do that.

"We can't have parking wardens stationed there all the time and they can't walk out into the road themselves to issue a notice."

The council used to use a CCTV 'spy car' to tackle the issue, but they were banned by the Government to stop 'over-zealous' enforcement.

There are now calls to make the road a clearway, meaning it would be illegal to stop on the carriageway for any reason except in an emergency.

Hackney carriage driver Zulfaqar Shah, chairman of the Bolton Taxi Drivers Association, said: "The biggest problem at the moment is when the private hire drivers come to pick up. They don't bother to move five yards down into the lay-by, they just stop in the middle of the road and block our exit.

"Trinity Street needs to be turned into a clearway to stop people parking there.

"I have complained a number of times to the council and nothing has been done.

"The situation is definitely much worse now since Great Moor Street became one-way."

The black cabs have their own taxi rank outside the railway station, in Newport Street, and are regularly blocked in because of the congestion in Trinity Street.

Driver Sajid Mahmood added: "This is a problem for all of us.

"Sometimes it can take me 15 minutes to get out onto Trinity Street, and my meter is running all that time.

"It is really difficult for buses trying to turn left out of Newport Street, too. I have seen some private hire drivers start arguments with bus drivers at that junction.

"The private hire drivers just don't care, it has been going on for years."

Cllr Chadwick added: "It has been the bane of our lives for ages, it is so inconsiderate.

"The vast majority of the cars causing problem are private hire taxis. The black Hackney carriages have their own taxi rank outside the station in Newport Street.

"It is sheer laziness from the private hire drivers to stop in the middle of the road, rather than pulling into the parking spaces further down Trinity Street.

"We have spoken to the Private Hire Association before, but the message has to then be communicated to all drivers.

"If you are in that area at peak times then you will see the chaos. Drivers are honking their horns at each other and it can get really unsavoury."

Private hire companies argue that they should have their own designated pick-up and drop-off zone.

A spokesman for Metro Taxis said: "We have a suggestion and that is that there should be a designated area for private hire vehicles to pick up.

"Obviously, the black cabs have their own rank but there is nowhere for us to go.

"If there was somewhere for drivers to easily park then they would not have to brake in the middle of the road.

"At the moment, if we have more than two or three bookings at the station then it is chaos for everyone."