PROTEST PLIGHT
ROSSENDALE DRIVERS IN STRIKE THREAT OVER LICENSING CHANGES
Taxi drivers in Ros- sendale are threaten- ing to go on strike if the council does not agree to change its licensing policy. Rossendale Taxi Asso- ciation are concerned that
their personal
information could get into ‘the wrong hands’ if new regulations are carried. Rossendale Council’s
would take strike action if the decision was not quashed. However, Cllr Sean Serridge,
deputy licensing
committee passed a motion allowing a pri- vate company to carry out taxi drivers’ CRB and DVLA checks. This allows the firm to hold their private details. According to the Lan- cashire
David Lawrie, chair- man of
sendale Taxi Associa- tion, has called the ruling ‘very dangerous’ and said his group
leader of the council, said using private com- panies to issue checks was routine procedure. A meeting was held between the borough authority and taxi chiefs last month to prevent a strike. Cllr Serridge said: “Most
government
Telegraph the Ros-
agencies use compa- nies to perform these checks. The council will not allow people’s pri- vate information to go into the hands of com- panies who could misuse them. It is per- fectly legal and safe.” If the ruling goes ahead, the changes will be brought in on August 1. It has not yet been dis-
Announcing ............. (a little brother for TaxiMATE™ Executive) TaxiMATE™ Lite
closed which company will be contracted to manage the process. Mmmm.....If the private company is a bona fide “umbrella body”, evi- dently this is both lawful and quite common. However, we would question the efficacy of councils using outside companies in most areas, on the basis that (a) the council is quite capable of undertaking this task; and (b) a charge would have to be made to use the out- side company, and this presumably would be passed on to the appli- cant. Mind you, with the increased volume of Rossendale hackney carriages
being
licensed at present, we can only assume that it’s quite busy around those parts… Ed.
REPEAT ‘GO SLOW’ TAXI THREAT TO WILTSHIRE COUNCIL
The organiser of a ‘go slow’
protest against Wilt- shire
taxi drivers’ Council’s
licensing procedures has said more will be held if their concerns are not addressed. About 13 drivers moved in convoy in a slow circuit around the one-way system for an hour and a half on a recent Wednesday afternoon to highlight the difficulties faced by cab drivers and to call on the council to put a cap on the num- ber of licences issued in the city. Organiser Stuart Commins told the Salisbury Journal: “If we don’t get a response from the council then we will hold another one. “We would like to apol- ogise to people for the inconvenience Wiltshire
but Council
doesn’t listen to any- thing we say. This is the only way we can think of to get our voic- es heard.” Mr Commins said the response from the public to the protest was supportive. “We got a good response when we explained what we
Another ‘Go Slow’ Protest not ruled out
were doing and why,” he said. “They general- ly agreed that what we were doing was right.” He said the problem is that there are about 200 taxis operating in Salisbury but there are only parking spaces for 27 of those, and not enough work to go around. Local councils have the power to place a cap on the number of licences issued but it is their choice whether to do so and a spokesman for Wilt- shire Council said there are no plans to put one in place in the county. A statement said: “As has always been the case, market demand will dictate how many taxis can be supported
in any given location. “This will not change and there are no plans to propose a cap. “We are harmonising the taxi conditions in Salisbury, which takes effect in September, and we believe this will alleviate any problems of a lack of rank space. “These changes have been brought in so taxi licence conditions are consistent throughout the county. “In order to give the businesses time to plan and adopt for the new regulations, we also agreed to phase in these changes. “As we have always done, we will continue to support the taxi trade as the new regu- lations take effect.”
300 BELFAST DRIVERS HOLD PROTEST AT SHAKE-UP PLAN
Affordable Booking, Despatch and Invoicing for the Smaller Business
Regarded as the most Intuitive and Easy-To-Use System Available Fully Featured for All Private Hire and Chauffeur Operations Plus Packs Available for Growth to the Fuller System
So, if you… want to progress from pen & paper, or are dissatisfied
with your current booking system, and need a system that can grow with your business …take a look at TaxiMATE™ Lite.
Buy........Rent........Lease The Management System of Choice! 0845 074 0545 SoftSol PAGE 20 software engineering services Call for a FREE demonstration or email
sales@softsol.ltd.uk
More than 300 black cab drivers disrupted traffic in Belfast city centre last month in protest at a planned shake-up of the indus- try. Changes to be intro- duced in September will mean that private hire cabs will no longer need to be pre- booked and can pick up passengers off the street like public hire black taxis. In a state- ment, drivers apol- ogised for any disrup- tion but said their livelihoods were at stake.
“We have tried to keep the disruption to a minimum but we have no other choice,” they said. “We believe the new one-tier system and the deregulation of taximeters has no benefit to public hire taxis or the general public.” Sean Beckett, chair- man of the Public Hire Coalition, said drivers had repeatedly re- quested meetings with environment minister Alex Attwood and members of Stor- mont’s environment committee to discuss
the proposals. He said the protest had been held after 10am to minimise traf- fic disruption but future demonstrations might be held during rush hour if drivers were unable to put their objections to the department. Mr Attwood defended the changes
last
month. He said they would give the public greater choice and a single-tier
system would make it easier for customers to identify and avoid illegal taxis.
PHTM JULY 2013 licensing
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
