ROUND THE COUNCILS WOKINGHAM:
COMPLAINTS ABOUT RANK CLOSURES
Muhammad Arshad, Chairman of
the
Wokingham Bor- ough
Hackney
Drivers Association, has been liaising withWokingham BC during lockdown trying to get them to support the taxi industry. In a recent email to the
council Mr
Arshad said: “As the shops are being opened our only official taxi rank in Wokingham Broad Street has been closed, without noti- fication and no alternative provided. This means we can- not resume work even if we want to. “Please note that not all
the taxi
drivers are permit- ted to work at Wokingham Station, as a permit is re- quired.” Peter Baveystock from the Council re- plied: “The ranks in Broad Street are currently suspended under an emergency Section 14(2) Order toenable social dis- tancing measures to be implemented. “This is in order to meet the Govern- ment
requirement
for temporary foot- way extension mea- sures as non-essen- tial retail businesses open. The short notice from Govern- mentmeantwewere unable to undertake normal consultation
processes. “However,
unlike
many authorities, we are using movable barriers to accom- modate pedestrian footfall according to demand and are monitoring
this
carefully. If pedestri- an demand is low we can make adjust- ments and reinstate bays for parking and taxis. “We are in the pro- cess of converting the shared goods loading/disabled bays in Market Place to evening taxi ranks. We hope to be in a position to decide on re-open- ing taxi ranks to- wards the end of next week.”
Licence fees for black cabs and pri- vate hire vehicles have been cut in a bid to help support the trade in the Black Country. According to the Express and star, chiefs at Wolver- hampton Council made the move after hearing how coronavirus has had a severe impact on drivers' income as passenger journeys fell to record lows during lockdown. The licence fee cuts are being imple- mented for 18,000 drivers immediately. Councillor Alan Bol-
shaw, chairman of the council’s licens- ing committee, said: “The fees for taxi and private hire licence
renewals
have been reduced on average by around 30 per cent. “We know that many drivers and their families have experienced great hardship during the lockdown. Never- theless, they have endeavoured
to
provide a vital ser- vice
for key
workers. “We will continue to do everything we can to help the drivers during this
WOLVERHAMPTON: LICENCE FEES CUT
difficult period,
within the rules allowed by legisla- tion.” Changes, which apply to hackney carriages or private hire vehicles, will see the one-year driver renewal fee being cut from£59 to £40. Two-year
driver
renewal fees have been reduced from £110 to £75, with the three-year renewal fee dropping from £140 to £100. The annual cost to licence a vehicle – which must be less than ten years old – is dropping from £185 to £135.
WOLVERHAMPTON: ON LINE REGISTER FOR CHANGES LAUNCHED
Licensing bosses at City of Wolver- hampton Council are launching a new "online
enabling taxi drivers to update
portal" any
changes to their vehicles or circum- stances. The council is pre- paring to approve the register, costing £49,000, which will enable all drivers, operators and pro- prietors of PHVs and hackney car- riages which are licensed by the council to provide up to date informa- tion. The ‘My Driver Por- tal’ will allow drivers to record criminal/ motoring convic- tions or cautions; changes in name, address or contact details; changes in
20
private hire opera- tor; changes of driver if the vehicle is licensed by a hire company, and any road traffic acci- dents. Licensing Section Leader
Lorraine
Jones said in a report to the coun- cil: "When a driver has a change in cir- cumstances they are required to inform us in writing as part of their licence con- ditions. “The portal was cre- ated as a self-help function for drivers to maintain their records online and ensure their infor- mation is kept up to date as per their licence conditions. "As we are now working totally elec- tronically, it was a natural step for the
register to be elec- tronic. It also makes the register more easily accessible.” Access to the driver portal will be secure and require an email address specific to each driver, propri- etor or operator. The
facility –
obtained from soft- ware suppliers Idox for a one-off pay- ment – will also include news feeds, announcements and advertisements for relevant issues such as insurance,
re-
placement car hire, repairs, tyres and valeting, for which the council will receive revenue. Thecouncil’s Non- Statutory Licensing Committee was to discuss the new online portal month.
last JULY 2020
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