A group of residents are campaigning to stop the sale of a lease to a new mini cab company inside of Elstree and Borehamwood train station.

Paul Watkins from Borehamwood, is spearheading a campaign to stop Travel Point Trading (TPT) from selling a station kiosk to a private hire company.

Mr Watkins believes the station traffic is due to get gridlocked if this sale goes through and the safety of commuters will be put at risk.

Currently there are more than 100 private hire licenced vehicles in Borehamwood and the congestion is now growing with more than 1000 homes now being built in the area, according to Mr Watkins.

The traffic across the town has been under scrutiny from residents due to the number of cars at the station trying to get access to Shenley Road and Allum Lane with many times traffic being gridlocked.

According to Mr Watkins the company who is looking to purchase the kiosk is the private hire company AAA.

Mr Watkins said: “From the end of April a new private hire company is to open another office inside the station, a company who have in access of 100 private cars in their group.

“If you add that to the number already in the borough you will understand the effect it will have on the already unhappy and frustrated residents.

“It is my belief the new company are going to use the seven bays at the front of the station.

“It also appears that three cars are registered to each bay making a total 21 more cars in the area but my main concern is the health and safety aspect to commuters because of the location of the office platform side of the barrier.

“Surely this must be a health and safety issue with the amount of commuters coming through the station.

“TPT the organisation who give out these leases also have a duty to the train users and would have made a risk assessment as they say they do before selling this lease.”

Mr Watkins also believes the new company have rented the station’s seven bays at the front of the forecourt, the company will be contravening the licencing conditions of the council.

Borehamwood Town Mayor Richard Butler said: “It is going to cause more traffic issues and more issues with the bus services.

“I am not against people having businesses but I am concerned about having so many vehicles there.

“Potentially there will be a whole fleet there and I don’t want more pressure to be put on our bus services. I am looking into the health and safety side of the issue.”

Cllr Butler has also informed the residents to attend the next Transport Forum so they can have any questions answered.

Currently Thameslink operates the station and employs the staff. TPT manages the tenancies at the station.

Roger Perkins, of Thameslink, said: “Granting AAA Taxis a lease for premises so they can operate from Elstree and Borehamwood station will introduce healthy competition and give our passengers a choice to either book one of their private hire vehicles or use one of the ply-for-hire metered taxis on the rank which tend to be more expensive.

“This is perfectly legal and mirrors similar arrangements at many other stations on our network.

“There is no risk to the safe running of the station and we are not increasing traffic at the roundabout as AAA is already using the bays – and has been for around 18 months.”

Chris Gascoine, chief environmental health officer for Hertsmere Borough Council, said: “Our remit at Hertsmere Borough Council is to investigate any breaches of our private hire and hackney carriage conditions as and when any complaints or issues arise.

“Any commercial arrangements relating to the possible use of the station car park by private hire companies or the siting of a kiosk within the station are outside of our control.”