FRUSTRATED CABBIES
CABBIES DEMAND SCOTLAND’S BIGGEST CITIES NOW SCRAP NEW POLLUTION CHARGES
Cabbies have demanded Scotland’s biggest cities follow Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s lead and scrap new pollution charges. The Daily Record reports that in Glas- gow, motorists will face a fine of up to £480 from June 2023 if caught in a LEZ driving a vehicle that doesn’t meet green standards. Similar penalties will be introduced in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee in 2024, despite thou- sands of cars – including hundreds of black cabs – currently failing to meet the regulations. In Manchester, former Labour MP Burn- ham has announced he will refuse to implement CAZ charges and instead wants owners of older vehicles to be eligible for grants to replace them.
While in Manchester private cars would not have been charged, in Scotland almost all vehicles are due to be hit. In most cases diesel engine vehicles registered before 2015 and petrol vehi- cles registered before 2006 will fail to make the grade. For cabbies, it could mean having to shell out for a new cab – despite two years of low earnings due to Covid. While some older vehicles can be retrofitted to meet standards, up to 1,000 may have to be taken off the road. Calum Anderson, chairman of the Glas- gow Cab Section of union Unite and a taxi driver for 34 years, said: “I think Andy Burnham has got it right on this one. In Glasgow hundreds of taxi drivers are simply going to leave the
industry next year because they can’t afford to buy a new taxi for over £60,000 that is LEZ compliant. “We have just been through a pandem- ic where our earnings were devastated for two years, now it feels like Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Govern- ment are punishing us. We have not even called for the scheme to be scrapped. We have just said they need to give us a few extra years.” About 1,000 Hackney cabs – out of a fleet of 1,420 – are non-compliant with the LEZ standards in Glasgow alone. Scottish Labour transport spokesper- son Neil Bibby said: “LEZs must be delivered fairly, without piling pressure on to people or costing jobs during a cost-of-living crisis.”
CABBIES CLAIM ‘UNLICENSED TAXIS’ OPERATING IN BANGOR, ‘STEALING TRADE AND PUTTING LIVES AT RISK’
Bangor cabbies fear unlicensed taxis are operating in the city centre that could be putting people’s lives at risk whilst taking away their income. According to the Daily Post, cab drivers and a Gwynedd councillor claim ‘illegal’ taxi services have been operating - par- ticularly late at night and into the early hours near the Cube nightclub. Gwynedd Council says the claims are a “matter of great concern” and it has urged anyone with information to report it to the council. Bangor taxi driver Heulwen Jones, 51, says on one busy weekend her takings were down at least £200 due to the issue. The mum of four, said her con- cerns were more about the “risk,” particularly to youngsters getting into unregistered taxis. Heulwen who runs Tacsi HJ Taxi, said: “It has been a real problem. I have reported it to the police but I am disap- pointed nothing has been done about
JUNE 2022
it yet. The situation is very concerning.” She added: “It seems to be predomi- nantly young people from Anglesey and Bangor running late night delivery for other youngsters coming out of the pubs and nightclubs around Dean Street and the Cube area, they are well organised they even advertise their services on Snapchat. “What worries me, is they are not prop-
erly insured as taxis, we see young girls, very drunk, skirts at half mast falling and giggling into these unregis- tered cars, you don’t know who these drivers are. “We have to have a hackney carriage car licence and private driver licence issued by the council and we have proper taxi plates. “We are safe and legal, we have to have two MOTs a years, we have to be DBS checked, and we spend thousands in insurance and for our vehicles, we are safe and experienced drivers. I have been driving 33 years.” Gwynedd Councillor Dylan Fearnley who represents Dwyrain, Bangor, said: “Some drivers have raised it about these taxis, suspected of being unli- censed, some coming from other areas, plucking up their fares. Several report- ed it, we have reported it to the police, we aim to be speaking to the local police inspector soon.”
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