BUS LANE BULLETIN
SOUTH TYNESIDE DRIVERS IN BUS LANES ROW
Campaigning cabbies are demanding that South Tyneside Council gets up to speed with a long-running bus lane row. Local taxi drivers have pressed for more than a decade to be allowed to use bus lanes in the borough, as they can in neighbouring council authorities. One taxi boss claims South Tyneside Council is “still in the dark ages” and needs to scrap the bus lane prohibition. Cabbies who flout the traffic regulation can face fines of about £60. Backing the cabbie campaign is taxi driver and council member Coun- cillor John McCabe, who told the Shields Gazette: “It seems ridiculous that taxi drivers in North Tyneside, Sunderland, Newcastle and Gateshead are allowed to use bus lanes, but not in South Tyne- side. This has dragged on for between ten and 15 years, but despite several representations to the council, this has still not been changed. “If South Tyneside taxi drivers were allowed to use the lanes, it would reduce pollution, cut journey times for passengers and mean less traffic congestion. “There are only a handful of bus lanes in operation in South Tyneside, so I cannot see that it would take a huge amount of work to change the traffic regulation.” Councillor McCabe, vice-chairman of Hebburn community area forum, added: “There are about 1,000 taxi drivers in South Tyneside, paying something like £1m a year in fees to the council, and yet we still face this restriction with the bus lanes. “It’s an anomaly, which doesn’t apply to drivers in neighbouring author- ities, and it needs correcting.”
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU CAN USE YOUR PHV IN BUS LANES?
Dear Sirs, I have recently received two Penalty Charge Notices for using my private hire vehicle in bus lanes in Leeds. In Sheffield private hire vehicles and hackney carriages both use bus lanes and the signs read - ‘Buses and Taxis only’. The same sign is displayed in Leeds where I received the penalty charges, hence my question How do you know when you can use a bus lane and when you cannot? I live in Sheffield and do airport transfers to different towns and cities - (Nottingham for example have signs that say ‘Hackney Carriages’ only are allowed to use bus lanes). If you are a stranger to another town or city how do you determine whether you are allowed to use the bus lanes when the signs say buses and taxis only. The definition of a Taxi is a licensed vehicle used for hire or reward. If towns or cities use the word ‘Taxi’ should they make the distinction clearer?? I have been a taxi driver for over 40 years and this I the first time I have received a penalty charge. I mainly deal with airport work and travel to various towns etc., and I strongly feel that signs should be defined more clearly thereby enabling all taxi drivers, whether they drive a hackney or private hire, to know where they stand.
Yours faithfully,
T.C.Yearsley Tony’s Private Hire, Sheffield
Dear Mr Yearsley:
The trouble, as always, is that there are 342 licensing authorities in Eng- land and Wales, and they all have their own game plan. Some 64 of these local authorities allow both hackney carriages and PHVs to use the bus lanes, but then of course the terminology used on the “street furniture” stating this is all different. In Oxford it states on the main bus lane: “Access denied except for buses, taxis and private hire vehicles”. In Wolverhampton, one of the first areas to allow PHVs down the bus lanes as well as hackneys, the Department for Transport was approached for the appropriate signage and supplied it, no problem. In fact they have issued a book with illustrations of standard street signs, but they also maintain a department/office where non-standard signs may be approved. Actually in Wolverhampton (as is the case in many dis- tricts) the particular area in question was pedestrianised, so the sign reads “Pedestrian Zone: access denied except buses, taxis, licensed pri- vate hire vehicles, wheelchair accessible vehicles, and for loading”. (mostly set out with illustrations) Even taxi drivers can be caught out if they use bus lanes in districts where they were not licensed. The only area that allows taxis in the bus lanes universally (but not private hire) is London, where any hackney carriage driver with a vehicle licence issued under section 37 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 can use the bus lanes without penalty. So in answer to your question, a stranger to any of these other towns or cities – none of which has standardised signage – can be caught out as you have been in Leeds. See also the other article on this page con- cerning the North East, and their problems with terminology and bus lane access. So until and unless there is some form of unity derived as pertains bus lane access – which is of course what you are suggesting - your best course of action is to stay out of them! Please don’t shoot the messenger; the National Association has been campaigning for equal PHV access to bus lanes for years, primarily on the basis of discrimination against disabled passengers in PHVs having to go the long way round to get where they’re going, and paying more for the journey as a result. But as with so many licensing issues, cur- rently it is down to the local authority – thus the anomalies nationwide.
National Private Hire Association
npha@btconnect.com
PAGE 30 PHTM AUGUST 2013
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