PROTEST PLIGHT WANTED HEREFORD CABBIES THREATEN
ACTION AS FEES ARE INCREASED
Taxi drivers have threatened to bring Hereford to a standstill after being told that their licence fees will be increased with immediate effect. A council meeting agreed to the pro- posal after hearing that the service costs around £28,000 more than the total raised through fees paid by taxi drivers. The new fees, which were based on costs, were derived from estimating future activ- ity based on appli- cations received for taxi licences in the last financial year. But Keith Preen, from KMJ Cabs, said that many drivers cannot afford to pay the increases and are
planning a protest. “A programme of total disobedience is going to be discussed and we are very serious about putting an oper- ation in place, which will bring the city to a total and utter stand- still and embarrass the council,
especially
when the Queen comes,” Mr Preen told the Hereford Times. The Queen is due to visit Hereford in July as
part of
drivers who cannot afford these increases in any shape or form and are really strug- gling. They won’t give us a tariff increase, all they want to do is take money out of our pockets. “We told them at the last meeting that we can’t survive and they showed no strength of compassion. We will not
take this lying a
whistlestop tour of the country to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. Mr Preen added: “The figures that the licens- ing officer gave do not match up and I’m going to take legal action and request a judicial review. “There are a lot of taxi
down and will make our feelings known both physically and verbally, and if that means causing civil disobedience
until
they relent and apolo- gise both formally and publicly, then so be it.” John Jones, chairman of High Town Taxis and spokesman for
the Herefordshire Hackney
and Private Hire Asso- ciation, added that the council already gets enough money to cover the service. “There are around 170 renewals a year out of 650 drivers, with them paying £157 for the first year and £47 for the second and third years,” he said. “Our CRB checks also put in another £9,000 every three years, so they already get more than they need, but they still voted for the increases.” Marc Willimont, acting head of service at Herefordshire Council, said that the costs of providing the taxi serv- ice need to be covered, even though significant reductions have already been
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made in overhead and management costs. “The
new fees,
although increased, bring Herefordshire in line with many other local authorities,” he said.
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“The council continues to support local traders and has therefore pledged to review the fees in eight months time to make sure the estimated cost recov- ery is on track.”
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0800 142 2815 PAGE 24 PHTM JULY 2012
EXECUTIVE CHAUFFEURS, FLEETS, PRIVATE HIRE & HACKNEY CARRIAGE DRIVERS
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