A TAXI parking bay in Ramsbottom town centre is driving shoppers round the bend.

Whereas most complain about the shortage of cabs, the people of town have asked the space on Bridge Street be removed.

Councillor Dorothy Gunther, said: "This rank for one black cab has never been used, all it is doing is taking a car parking space.

"The people of Ramsbottom never asked for a taxi bay and we have given it twelve months to see if there is a demand for it, but there isn't. It is parked right outside the postbox, so the Royal Mail van can not park to pick up the post."

According to Coun Gunther, council officers painted a taxi bay in the town centre after ranks in Bury Town Centre were reduced and placed in surrounding areas.

"If there was a need for a taxi space then surely it would have been better for it to be placed outside the supermarkets where people do use cabs. But where it is, it is simply not serving any purpose and we don't want it," said the councillor, who has written to the highways department with her concerns and requests for it to be removed.

A spokesman for Bury Council said that decision to site a taxi bay in Ramsbottom was as part of a borough wide review of taxi ranks. He said that the council's highways department was aware of the bay was not being used much.

He said the matter to remove the bay would be discussed at the traffic management committee in September.