..IN THE
NEWS...IN THE NEWS
WARNING BY WELWYN HATFIELD TAXI DRIVERS THAT WHEELCHAIR REQUIREMENT WILL DOOM TRADE
Welwyn and Hat- field Taxi Drivers Association has launched an objec- tion against the council’s plans for wheelchair accessi- ble vehicles. At a borough coun- cil meeting on Monday 20 July, Richard Bunday,
stated that the council’s proposal that all hackneys should be WAVs has been taken without proper consultation with the drivers. He said: “We appre- ciate there is a need for more WAVs but believe it is not nec- essary
or
advantageous to insist all vehicles accommodate wheel- chairs. Many wheel- chair-bound cus- tomers prefer to travel in the more secure seat of the taxi and not strapped into their chair, especially
LIVERPOOL’S BLACK CABS GO CONTACTLESS
Following a six- month period to allow hackney drivers to install contactless pay- ment machines in their taxis, all hack- neys in Liverpool must now offer pas- sengers the option of making contact- less payments for fares. In April, Liverpool City Council’s Licensing Commit- tee agreed to a proposal to make contactless card payments mandato- ry in all of the city’s 1,426 hackney car- riages. This brings Liverpool in line with other big cities as well as PHVs, many of which already accept card pay- ments. The city council consulted widely with its hackney drivers before mak- ing the commitment and a decision was made to locate the card reader in a plastic partition between the driver and passenger. The move comes at a time when due to
when facing back- wards. Not all dis- abled customers are in wheelchairs, this is just a small por- tion. “By limiting the scope of the vehi- cles provided within the fleet, you poten- tially create prob- lems for customers with other disabili- ties and alienate other customers who require alterna- tives such as an executive car or six, seven or eight- seater.”
the coronavirus out- break, contactless card payments have become the accept- ed method of paying for goods and services. All of the city’s hackney cabs also have plas- tic partition screens fitted to further pro- tect both passenger and driver from spreading the infec- tion. The enhanced safe- ty and security of the city’s cabs also comes on the heels of recent news that Liverpool has been recognised as the ‘most accessible city in the country’ in terms of travelling by cab. Research by the website, Taxi2Air-
AUGUST 2020
port.com identifies Liverpool as the city with the most wheelchair-accessi- ble cabs per head of population. All of Liverpool’s black cabs are able to take wheelchairs mean- ing there are nearly three accessible cabs for every 1,000 residents of the city. Chair of Liverpool City Council’s Licensing Commit- tee, Cllr Christine Banks, said: “All our cabs undergo annu- al inspections by the council and should now have the card payment machines fitted. Any that are found to be flouting this rule may face e n f o r c e m e n t action.”
But, he acknowl- edges, a survey by the council found that 98 per cent of the public were in favour of this plan. “If the council con- tinues on this route, many will choose to be licensed by another district or change careers alto- gether and the council will end up without a taxi ser- vice at all.” “Some drivers’ vehi- cles are near the eight year age limit
and it is wholly unreasonable for the council to expect these drivers to find the thousands of pounds extra imme- diately or in the next few weeks or months.” Mr Bunday suggest- ed that this policy should come into force instead when a driver enters the trade, which will replace the whole fleet in time. However Cllr Fiona Thomson responded that there had only been four new drivers in Welwyn Hatfield over the last years and this was a fair way to ensure taxis are replaced as there are no wheelchair vehicles currently in the council fleet.
PASSENGER BADLY INJURED AFTER FALLING INTO BIRMINGHAM ROAD
A woman has been seriously injured after falling out of a taxi into a busy road on the afternoon of Saturday 4 July. When she fell from the vehicle into East Meadway, Kitts Green, members of the public reported- ly attempted to help her at the scene just before 5.20pm. The emergency services then arrived and cordoned off part of the road with police tape. Two ambulances and several police cars were pictured blocking the street
as concerned wit- nesses looked on. The woman was found to be in a seri- ous condition and trauma care was administered by medics in the street before she was rushed to hospital
for emergency care. The exact circum- stances around the incident are not known, but West Midlands Police said it did not appear 'suspicious’ and no arrests have been made.
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