ANDFEES
REGULATE FARES BEFORE EPPING FOREST DRIVERS ‘BLOW THEIR TOPS’
Passengers are being ripped off and ten- sions between taxi drivers are boiling over due to the coun- cil’s failure to regulate fares, a coalition of independent cab driv- ers has warned. There is no limit on what passengers can be charged for a jour- ney in the district because, almost uniquely among coun- cils in Essex, Epping Forest District Council does not regulate the district’s taxi fares. Licensed taxi drivers say that this makes the area more attractive for the cowboy opera- tors who the council are failing to crack down on.
At the same time, the council is issuing too
many licences while allowing the big opera- tors a near-monopoly of the district’s taxi ranks.
Jamie Goodman, 30, told the Epping For- est Guardian: “It’s only a matter of time before there’s going to be a serious injury caused by a con- frontation between cab drivers, or between a cab driver and a customer. There are arguments taking place all the time.”
Alexander Gokmen, 40, said: “The fact that we don’t have meters is bad for customers and bad for us. The council could do so much more to help us independent drivers.” Hasam Hayirli, 29,
said: “The problem is that there are just far too many drivers. “And everyone is charging different prices, so the same journey can be £5, £7 or £8 and it creates a lot of confusion for customers and a lot of arguments.”
A spokeswoman for Epping Forest District Council said: “The council has recently entered into a Taxi Quality Partnership with Essex County Council where we hope to look at ways of improving the taxi service.
“Licensing will invite the taxi trade to come along to meetings to discuss issues that they have raised in this query.”
SOUTHAMPTON DRIVERS PLEA FOR FARE INCREASE TO PAY FOR CCTV CAMERAS
A taxi trade body in Southampton is requesting fare hikes after council bosses ordered drivers to pay for CCTV cameras in their cabs.
The Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) wants city coun- cillors to approve fare rises of around ten per cent for a typical jour- ney.
SHA chairman Ian Hall said increased busi- ness costs were hitting drivers’ livelihoods. He said in the past year insurance premiums had risen four per cent, docks permits had gone up from £40 to £50, while the intro- duction of four new taxis had increased competition for cus- tomers.
The introduction of compulsory £710 “taxicams” and a requirement to have two MoTs a year had also added to costs, he said.
Over the past decade fares in Southampton have dropped from among the most expensive in the coun- try to 116th out of 380 authorities, according to a trade survey. Fares last went up two years ago.
It comes as licensing chiefs plan to charge drivers an extra ten per cent for the cost of a licence, from £150 to £165.
Mr Hall told the South- ern Daily Echo: “If the council can apply for the licence fee to go up, I cannot see why
they cannot agree to a fare rise.”
If the new table of fares is approved, a one-mile trip will go up from £4 to £4.20, a three-mile trip will cost £7.40 instead of £6.80, while a five-mile jour- ney, for example from the city centre to the airport, would cost £10.60 rather than £9.60.
However, Christmas and New Year fares will be reduced from £4.40 to £3.90 a mile. The SHA, which has 126 members, claims to have the support of the trade.
A majority of the 161 responses from a sur- vey of 480 hackney carriage drivers and proprietors backed a fare increase.
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