A horse and carriage ride service provider in Cleethorpes has expressed his frustration with the council over his allocated route which he believes will be bad for his business. The 29-year-old Sam Norris was given a license to operate his business in March of 2017 but he feels he won’t have much success operating in the resort because of the pickup locations allocated to him by the North East Lincolnshire Council.
In order to operate his business, Sam Norris needed to get a license for a hackney carriage by was told he could only pick up customers from designated hackney carriage points. During the day, the only one he’s able to use is the one opposite The Swashbuckle on Grant Street. Because Grant Street doesn’t have a heavy footfall particularly from visitors and tourists coming to the pier, he believes the decision will negatively affect his business. Tourists and visitors were expected to be his main customers. Grant Street is off the main high street and not visible to anyone at the pier front.
Norris stated that he’s gotten almost no business since he started operating the business in Cleethorpes despite having been down at the pickup point on several bank holidays and sunny weekends. Some people were even wondering why he wasn’t parking down at the pier front. Norris states that he has gone to the council to ask them why he can’t use the hackney carriage ranks that are vacant on Sea Road but they responded that many traffic collisions have already been taking place at that spot and that the carriage would make the problem worse. Norris, on the other hand, doesn’t believe the area is a hotspot for accidents.
Norris claims that he has already spent more than £15,000 pounds to get his business started but so far, it has taken three years for him to make any sort of progress despite having first contacted the council in 2014. The council requested that he get the best horses and carriage and even have a MOT carried out which he all complied with. There, he doesn’t understand why he was being told to go and pick up clients from outside a pub which was nowhere near the attractions and amusements. A spokesperson from the council stated that they were already aware of the concerns that had been raised by Norris and had already given him an explanation.