28 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
JANUARY 2009 FARES ANDFEES
BRADFORD TAXI LICENCE COSTS TO RISE BY A THIRD
Taxi licensing fees are to shoot up by 35 per cent to cut the taxpay- ers’ subsidy of the service, councillors have been told.
Bradford Council’s Hackney Carriage Unit is expected to be cost neutral but it is running at a loss and expected to cost the Council more than £250,000 this year.
Despite this, the fees - which cover vehicle testing and licensing as well as drivers’ badges - have not increased at all for the past ten years. According to the Tele- graph and Argus, the regulatory and appeals committee heard the income generated by the service this year is less than half of what is required.
In addition, in 2006 after a call from the Hackney Carriage Owners’ Association, two extra inspectors
were employed, adding to the wages budget. The meeting also heard that the fees were sig- nificantly lower than those charged by neighbouring councils and below the West Yorkshire average. Councillors agreed to increase the fees by 35 per cent and include a free MOT for drivers after completing the Council’s own inspec- tion. They also agreed that the fees would increase by inflation every April from now on.
C D Khalid, president of the association, said that a ten per cent increase would be acceptable by the trade and also called for the Council to accept MOTs as an indication of a taxi’s roadworthiness, rather than asking drivers to pay the Council for a separate test.
Sakhawat Hussain, of the newly-reformed Pri- vate Hire Association called for the unit to make savings in its operating budget and said that if there were fewer tests then the two extra officers would not be required.
Councillors also closed a loophole in an agree- ment designed to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis.
Hackney carriage own- ers had agreed to start swapping saloon cars for wheelchair-accessi- ble vehicles from next year as licences were renewed.
But in the past week 20 drivers approached the Council about renewing their licences early. Now the unit can either refuse the early renewal or require any replace- ment vehicle to be wheelchair-accessible.
WOKING DRIVERS WANT CASH FROM LICENCES REINVESTED IN COMMUNITY
On-street parking and taxi licence prices will increase after the bor- ough council agreed its annual fees and charges review.
While residents living in and around Woking are trying to save money in every way possible, Woking Borough Coun- cil has announced an increase in its fees and charges. Taxi licence fees will increase by an average of 9.7 per cent from £175 for a standard licence fee, but the council says this is due to a new scheme that was intro- duced this year, which looks at the CO2 emis- sions of each taxi. On-street parking for a half-hour stay in the town centre will increase by 20p from 50p to 70p, subject to agreement with Surrey County Council.
John Morrant, a hack- ney carriage taxi driver
in Woking, said he would like to see the increase in taxi licence fees invested back into the industry in the town, for matters including enforcement. He told the Woking News and Mail: “There is definitely a drop in the number of people taking taxis, especially from the station. More and more people are walking. “I am not particularly wor- ried by the increase but we would like more sup- port from the borough council. At the moment, the council is taking our money and running off with it. It needs to be invested in us.”
But a spokesman for the borough council said: “The system is not as straightforward as it was before. The 9.7 per cent increase is the difference between the total amount that would have been charged last year and
what we are charging with the new CO2 scheme. “This amount will come to £10,480, which will be put into a carbon off- set fund and used to help with green initia- tives in the area.” The fees and charges review was discussed during a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny on October 16 and followed up by the executive committee on October 23.
At the executive meet- ing, council chief, executive Ray Morgan said the taxi drivers asked for a longer peri- od to bring in the changes in fees.
He said: “The drivers want the money to be invested in schools or anything they can be credited for in the com- munity. They are supportive of doing this, provided they are recognised as doing that.”
SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE TAXI LICENCE INCREASE MAY BE STALLED
Controversial increases in taxi licence fees in South Staffordshire could be delayed for a year following protests from drivers.
Councillors were due to meet to decide whether to put off introducing the full rates, which would see every driver hit with a £45 charge for a criminal record check. The move would rake in more than £100,000 from the region’s 41 taxi firms and 351 driv- ers, with passengers likely to foot the bill. Previously the council, which had among the cheapest licence fees in the area, made around £57,000 from fees but the service costs £154,000 to run. An operator’s licence used to cost between £70 and £100 for two years but under the proposals, this will soar to £200 for 12 months with £10 extra for every vehicle. But after 14 taxi compa- nies complained the council is proposing to cut the cost of a two- year driver’s licence
from £245 to £155 including the criminal record check. The operators’ licences will stay at £200.
In a report to council- lors David Pattison, head of legal and licensing, said: “These changes would bring in approximately £80,000.
“This is approximately 80 per cent of the costs which the authority will incur for licensing. It is proposed that the fees will be increased next year so that in future the fees will meet 100 per cent of the costs. The council will carry out a careful analysis of the costs to make sure that a rise is appropri- ate.”
Licensing chiefs are also looking into whether they could issue an MOT certifi- cate after each vehicle passes the tests the council has to run to make sure they are fit to be on the roads. Bosses believe the cer- tificate would save operators money because they would not have to have a separate
test.
Leila Stride, owner of NPHA member Cod- sall Cars, which has more than 30 vehi- cles, said the cost of her operator licences would go up from £100 for two years to around £1,000. The council now wants £10 for every vehicle on top of charging £200 a year for the licence.
Mrs Stride said she had only raised her local fare by 50p in the last ten years but that the cost of licences could have to be passed on to the customer.
She told the Express and Star: “I am pleased the council is thinking of the drivers at a time when companies are struggling to recruit them to do a job which is not well paid and can carry long unsociable hours and risks. “However, while I accept that fees go up because of inflation, I think the amount that these costs have risen is onerous when every business is strug- gling.”
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