For the past two weekends, the taxi rank has operated from the area used by the cruise ship buses in the central Octagon instead of outside the Municipal Chambers, after concerns raised when Dunedin man Steve Parkinson witnessed what he said was a violent incident at the rank in the upper Octagon.
While no issues have been reported during the past fortnight, taxi driver Murray Alcock said the situation was an accident waiting to happen.
"At the moment it’s pretty quiet ... but on any busy occasions it’s going to cause issues," he said.
"Someone’s going to get hurt and they are going to get hurt seriously."
He believed customers would be putting themselves in harm’s way to reach a taxi by running across the road, especially if they were drunk.
He had also witnessed some drivers making illegal right-hand turns into the upper Octagon from George St when taking customers north, further putting pedestrians at risk.
Law-abiding taxi drivers were also likely to bear the brunt of frustration from customers headed to the north as they had to travel to Moray Pl before turning and heading north again.
"I believe there will be an accident there and on a Friday and Saturday night; it’s waiting to happen," he said.
"It’s a short-term fix, but unfortunately in the end I think someone will get injured."
New Zealand Taxi Federation Otago spokesman Dean Winton said the only issue he had received feedback on was concern from taxi drivers about having to travel to Moray Pl to head north.
He was not aware of any incidents of disorder or issues with the trial arrangement.
A police spokeswoman said there were no reports of disorder from the Octagon on Saturday night.
Attempts to contact Dunedin City Council acting transport group manager Richard Saunders were unsuccessful yesterday.
Mr Saunders had previously said the rank would operate from 7pm to 7am each night during the trial.
At the end of the trial, council staff would discuss the results with taxi companies, police and local businesses before deciding whether to make it permanent.
