Sir, - As European correspondent for the Boston Globe, I get around the continent quite a bit, and have trooped wearily through many a train station in many a European capital, searching out the signs that point the way to the taxi queue.
I had never encountered a problem until last week, when I took the Enterprise from Belfast to Dublin. When I got off the train at Connolly Station, the signs pointing the way to the taxis were clearly marked. But once outside the entrance to the station, there is no sign or any other symbol or person indicating where those who want a taxi should stand.
I am obviously not the only person to experience this problem. There were about a dozen of us standing just outside the glass doors, looking quizzically at each other, shrugging our shoulders and asking if anyone knew where to stand. Eventually we all figured out that the taxi queue was about halfway down the ramp, so some of us trudged down. Some people, however, remained behind and tried to hail taxis that were dropping fares off at the front entrance. I carried the bag of a little old lady from Belfast who said she had come down to see her brother. She was clearly intimidated by the confusion. I said, "Follow me, ma'am," not quite knowing where I was taking her.
When I finally got a taxi, the driver nodded knowingly when I told him about the confusion that reigned. He said the problem was the result of CIE not wanting to lose business to taxi-drivers. Now, over the years, I've met a few Dublin taxi-men who can spin a good yarn, and maybe this driver was simply carrying on the tradition of great Irish fiction, but if there is anything remotely true about this, it is scandalous.
Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that many people who walk out of Connolly Station looking for a taxi don't know where to stand. It seems an eminently soluble problem. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Cullen, Cholmeley Crescent London N6.