GREEN MEANS GO
SHEFFIELD CAZ: TAXI DRIVER LAUNCHES PETITION AGAINST CHARGING RULES AND SECURES CONSULTATIONS
Ibrar Hussain, former councillor for Burngreave and cabbie for 34 years, has started a petition to highlight concerns about the CAZ that would see drivers of the most polluting taxis charged £10 a day to drive in the city centre. According to the Sheffield Star, Mr Hussain said the trade would be badly affected and traditional black cabs “finished” in Sheffield if specifications for hackney carriages were not changed. In his petition statement he said: “We, the licensed drivers are asking the council to urgently start the consultation on HC vehicle specification policy. We ask every member of the Sheffield City Council, licensing board and executive cabinet to take immediate action. Furthermore, the licensing service needs to act immediately with this consultation with the licensed HC vehicle owners as the stakeholders.” He added that Sheffield had around 610 licensed HCVs and this was declining fast. Rather than the proposed emission standard, he asked the council to allow a mixed fleet similar to the CAZ plans proposed in Leeds. Sheffield Council’s co-operative executive made the historic decision to introduce a CAZ in a special meeting at the Town Hall recently. The charging zone will cover the inner ring road and city centre and will be enforced using ANPR cameras. Just under £24m was given to deliver Sheffield and Rotherham’s Clean Air Plans. A consultation on the financial support started in November. Following on from the petitions Mr Hussain submitted to the council, he told PHTM: “I have met with the leader of the
council and senior officers about the CAZ launch consultation which got underway on Monday 22 November 2021 and ends on 16 December 2021. “My mixed fleet petition consultation will hopefully start in January 2022. That covers HC vehicle specification policy review as well as PHV specification policy review. This will address what we have requested: to have saloon cars, estate and hatchbacks too, including any other option that is available to the taxi trade under the circumstances as it’s impossible to survive with just EVs as traditional black cabs. “The trade is on its knees after the pandemic therefore we need to have every option available for drivers to choose from. We are fully aware of disabled access vehicles for which the licensing service must cater and that can be achieved without a doubt. “Review of the PHV specification policy is also vital, including the subject of door signage. Under current circumstances we must be able to do without any signage on doors as technology has advanced and changed the whole format of the identification issue.” He added: “It’s great to see the council listening to the taxi trade. We all lobbied hard for Euro 6 diesel and Euro 4 petrol to be exempt from the CAZ in Sheffield and I’m sure that Sheffield City Council understood our concerns.”
GLASGO CABS ORDERS 360 NISSAN LEAFS TO REPLACE PETROL AND DIESEL CARS OVER NEXT THREE YEARS
GlasGo Cabs has chosen to order 360 e+ N-Connecta trim- level LEAFs. Equipped with a 62kWh battery, each car can travel 239 miles on a single charge (WLTP combined) – easily enough for typical daily duties. The company’s electrification ambitions will start in earnest later this autumn when the first 11 cars are due to arrive. These are the first electrically powered vehicles in its own fleet.
GlasGo Cabs, for its part, was created only this year through the merger of Hampden Cars and Glasgow Private Hire. The company says the merger created Scotland’s largest private hire car and taxi company. GlasGo Cabs director Steven Malcolm said: “We have been thinking for some time about electrifying part or all of our fleet. “We are serious about doing our bit to reduce air
DECEMBER 2021
pollution and pro- tect the environ- ment. ‘‘Replacing hun- dreds of petrol and diesel models with all-electric Nissan LEAFs will have a meaningful impact on Glasgow’s air quality and we’re delighted about that. We’re sure our customers will appreciate the efforts we are making in this area, too. We all have a duty to look after the environment for future generations and we take our responsibilities in this area very seriously. We couldn’t have made a better choice than go for the Nissan LEAF.’’
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