PROTEST PLIGHT
HEREFORDSHIRE CABBIESS GEAR UP FOR FURTHER PROTEST OVER LICENSING CHANGES
Cabbies say Herefordshire Council is on a one-way journey to wiping out their trade in the county. They want a new round of consultation over proposed new, tighter licensing rules and are gearing up for further protests to get it. GloucestershireLive reports that the anger at the present “one-way” consul- tation process went public with a rally of 50 drivers in Hereford on Friday 4 March, that saw a petition presented at a full council meeting. Hereford Hack- ney Carriage and Private Hire Association chairman John Jones said: “We want a meeting between the asso- ciation and licensing officers, but we need councillors to sit in so they can hear the sense that’s being talked.” The Association fears around 80% of
the county’s drivers will leave the trade if the council proceeds with its present plans for a regulatory overhaul. That overhaul ranges from the way drivers and vehicles are licensed to having a knowledge-style test of the county’s
routes and setting tight age limits on vehicles. A consultation took place late last year on the changes that the association says didn’t fully engage with driver concerns, branding it“one way”. At Friday’s full council, the driver peti- tion was passed to Cllr Ange Tyler, cabinet member for regulatory services. She told the council meeting: “We are going through the results of the consultation, and I am listening to all the concerns being made by the taxi trade. This is a serious matter – we already have less taxi drivers due to Covid.”
A final policy recommendation on the changes will be put to full council in May.
BOLTON CABBIES LAUNCH FRESH PROTEST AGAINST MINIMUM LICENSING STANDARDS
Private hire and taxi drivers have staged another protest outside Bolton Town Hall as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and leaders of other authorities were due to visit. Accordiong to the Bolton News, Bolton’s cabbies were demonstrating at new proposals which could see a ban on cars more than five-years-old under plans to introduce minimum licensing standards - which would affect taxi and private hire drivers across Greater Manchester. Under the plans cabbies would have to get a new vehicle if their car is more than five years old. Speaking at the protest, Yasif Khan, the secretary of the Bolton Private Hire Association, explained his objections to the move.
He said: “It is stage two of the minimum licensing we are concerned about and the ban on the five-year-old cars. “Basically they are telling us to go and
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“They say that the vehicles are road worthy.” He added that drivers would have to get a £15,000 loan to get a new vehicle if plans were approved, and this could lead to a doubling of fares.
Mr Khan said this would have a bad effect on nightclubs and restaurants and elderly people who needed trips to hospitals which only the taxi and private hire drivers could provide.
buy a car, that will be about £15,000 to £20,000. “The average age of a lot of our vehi- cles is 15 years old. “There are never any problems even for those that are 15 years old. “We go and get two MoTs every year. “The council set the MoT garages we go to. There are only three.
He added: “If Andy Burnham was here I would say if it isn’t broken then don’t fix it.” The protest was also against Clean Air Zone plans. Those plans are currently under review and the public have been promised a say in them. Mr Burnham did not attend at Bolton Town Hall as expected.
APRIL 2022
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