ROUND THE COUNCILS OLDHAM:
TAXI FAILURES PUT PASSENGERS ‘AT RISK’
More than 1,000 taxis failed safety checks in Oldham last year putting passengers “at risk”, said councillors. According to BBC News licensing com- mittee report re- vealed that nearly 41% of taxis in the borough had failed council
tests on
vehicles since last April. Safety issues includ- ed poor suspension, faulty rear lights, tyre condition and a lack of fire extin- guishers. Cllr Graham Shuttle- worth criticised the taxi trade for a “deterioration”
in
standards. “We need to stop
finger-wagging with the trade and get firmer with them because I just think this whole situation is totally unaccept- able,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. “We either need to reduce the age of the vehicle, we need to deal with the drivers, or we need to get those vehicles off the road perma- nently.” Councillors
pro-
posed entering into dialogue with the taxi industry over plans to reduce the maximum age of vehicles from 12 years to ten. Previ- ously, the age limit had been increased
in the hope condi- tions would improve. John Garforth, who manages the coun- cil’s trading stan- dards and licensing division, told the panel that a 59% pass rate was both “disappointing and concerning”. “Some drivers are clearly
bringing
vehicles unprepared and are using the mechanical test as a way of identifying faults,” he said. The panel agreed to gather more infor- mation about the condition of the fail- ures and present them to the trade, with a view to trying to reduce the num- bers.
People across Aber- deenshire
have
been asked to to respond to an online survey ahead of plans to increase fares by three per cent. Local authorities are required to review charges every 18 months, and Aber- deenshire Council is now considering the rules for the region’s drivers. The Press and Jor- nal reports that the public has been urged to let the council know what they think of the new price arrange- ments and other suggestions.
Among them is a proposal to double the charge for cus- tomers who leave behind an “unac- ceptable mess” from its current rate of £50. The online consulta- tion, which ended on 1 July, will also include a possible amendment to the airport charge. The change would allow Aberdeenshire taxi drivers to add any charge incurred at the airport, from either dropping off or picking up pas- sengers, to the bill – as long as they made passengers aware in advance.
ABERDEENSHIRE: PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON FARE INCREASES
The council has cre- ated the draft proposals following discussion with the region’s taxi indus- try. A survey conducted by the council found that 71 per cent of those in the trade believed the fare scale needs
to
change, and the most popular pro- posal
for an
increase was by three per cent. In the same survey, 94.7 per cent of respondents in the taxi trade wanted drivers to be able to recover the costs of pick-up and drop- off at the airport.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE: ANK REMOVEDWITHOUT NOTIFICATION
Brighton and Hove City Council have started removing at least one rank in the city with another seemingly
under
threat. According to GMB, the union has had issues with the council suspending ranks in the past without the proper notification under the Local Govern- ment Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 Section 63, which clearly states no rank can be varied unless specific noti- fication has been provided. Thecoun- cil has stated that ‘it won’t happen again’. Theonly time a rank can be suspended is in a situation such as under emergency
18
road repairs but cer- tainly a rank cannot be totally eliminated without proper noti- fication and con- sultation. That spe- cific rank has been in place for many years and is located near a supermarket. However it has hap- pened again with total disregard to the byelaws. The union has also been alerted to the bla- tant removal of the rank in St. James’s Street. Additionally evidence has shown the intention to either remove or fully suspend anoth- er rank in London Road. Unlike PHV’s, hack- ney carriages must return to the nearest rank available, so
what on earth is the council doing to the trade in this time of crisis. What
is
specifically aggra- vating is the hun- dreds of out-of- town Uber PHV’s that have created their own ranks at popular spots where the council seems to turn a blind eye. GMB has contacted the council but at the time of writing there has been total silence and how many more ranks are going to illegally disappear
over-
night! The trade has made it very clear that the rank must be rein- stated immediately otherwise there will be a big protest in the city by the trade.
JULY 2020
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