IN THE NEWS WANTED NEW RULES ‘COULD COST 500 LEEDS CAB JOBS’
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Cabbies in Leeds are spearheading a nation- al petition against a proposed deregulation of the trade which they say could cost hun- dreds of drivers their jobs and reduce the quality of service in the city. The Government is currently considering scrapping Section 16 of the Transport Act 1985 as part of a review of ancient taxi laws. The change would open up the trade and, say campaigners, hit jobs, service quality and even the environ- ment hard. Leeds currently has 537 licensed hackney car- riages,
and the
numbers are reviewed regularly. There are additionally around 5,000 PHVs in the city. Paul Landau, who
chairs the Leeds Hack- ney Carriage branch of Unite the Union, said the worst knock-on effect would be on night shift drivers who don’t have a car of their own but lease one from a proprietor. “If Section 16 is repealed under this new legisla- tion, the restriction on numbers of taxis in Leeds and other cities will be lifted and any- body could go along to the licensing depart- ment and say ‘I would like a hackney licence’ and go to work,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “In Leeds you could see the numbers triple overnight, or go higher. The potential for mass unemployment is huge. In Leeds we could see anywhere up to 500
jobs lost instantly in the hackney sector.” Mr Landau said other cities where the hackney trade had been deregu- lated had been forced to cap numbers again because of the pres- sure it was putting on drivers. He added that a “massive influx” of new taxis would also increase the city’s pol- lution levels. Mr Landau and his Leeds colleagues have now launched an e- petition against
the
proposals, which can be viewed at www.e
petitions.direct.gov.uk/ petitions/27536 The petition will start in Leeds but, according to Mr Landau, will be rolled out nationwide in the coming months. Mmmm… So indeed will the Law Commis-
sion public consul- tation, starting in the spring and indeed fea- turing the subject of deregulation/re-regula- tion. Now here’s the rub: If you stop and consider briefly section 16 of the Transport Act 1985, this exact piece of legislation was respon- sible for the DElimita- tion of taxi numbers. We quote: “The provisions of
the Town Police
Clauses Act 1847 with respect to hackney car- riages, as incorporated in any enactment (whenever passed), shall have effect – (a) as if in section 37, the words “such number of” and “as they think fit” were omitted; and (b) as if they provided that the grant of a licence may be refused, for the purpose of limit-
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carriages… which is unmet.” Its removal would take us back to the time when councils COULD limit numbers. But then Mr Landau must have considered this before lodging his e- petition… - Ed.
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0800 142 2815 PAGE 34 PHTM FEBRUARY 2012
EXECUTIVE CHAUFFEURS, FLEETS, PRIVATE HIRE & HACKNEY CARRIAGE DRIVERS
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