...ROUND THE COUNCILS WORCESTER:


DEBATES OVER INTRODUCING BRANDING


Unified livery for taxis in Worcester is one of the ideas being explored by a group looking at whether introducing a brand for the city’s hackney carriages would be beneficial. According to the Worcester News, a city council working group has been weighing up the pros and cons of introduc- ing branding and livery to the entire fleet of Worcester’s taxis and council offi- cers have been in heavy


discussion with taxi drivers over


its potential. Ideas include making all


supported by taxi driver


representa- of Wor-


cester’s taxis a single colour, placing a Worcester City brand on every taxi, intro- ducing the council’s official crest on all vehicles or placing the city council’s name in standard form on every hack- ney carriage. A report, which was to be discussed by the city council’s licensing committee at a meeting last month,


said the


move to introduce branding was not


tives at a recent council taxi forum meeting. Mmmm… Once again a local council thinking


is about


image, identity and ‘community spirit’ – at the expense of the vehicle


owners.


Would Councillors vote to have all their vehicles painted the same colour and signed up with per- manent stickers? This corporate livery does not guarantee the safety of the passen- ger – Ed.


The price of getting a hackney cab in Nottingham has gone up. Fares in- creased by an aver- age 15.3 per cent in the night time and 16.5 per cent during the day. The increase, which is the first in seven years, was proposed by the trade unions who represent Not- tingham’s hackney drivers. It was set to approved by the city council in November and came into force on December 17. Last


year, Labour-run


the city


council voted to replace the current fleet of cabs with new, more-environ- mentally


15% FARE RISE A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS the


NOTTINGHAM: Nottingham


branch of Unite’s hackney


carriage


drivers, and ex- plained why his members supported the increase. He told Nottinghamshire- Live:


“We pleased at


are the


friendly


vehicles, which cost up to £72,000. These costs have to be met by the drivers. Basheer Ahmed Latif is the chairman of


increase because we are having to invest in the new vehicles. “We haven’t had a fare rise for seven years, and in that time the cost of liv- ing has gone up by about 30 per cent, the insurance has gone up by 50 per cent, the price of diesel has gone up as well. “We offer a specialist service in the sense that all our vehicles are wheelchair ac- cessible, and they’re five and six-seaters, and on top of that we have agreed to upgrade all our vehi-


JANUARY 2019 HIGHLANDS: Inverness


APPEAL TO WATCHDOG OVER ‘UNFAIRNESS’ Taxi


Alliance (ITA) repre- sents 100 drivers and has been at log- gerheads with the council


in recent


cles, so that really is a huge investment. “If someone buys a new vehicle then they have got to be able to pay for it, and with all the costs going up this is really an incentive for drivers to stay in the trade, and we hope the public will sup- port that for the future generation of Nottingham taxis.” From last month, customers will now pay an extra £1 for the first mile, and 20 pence more per mile thereafter. There will also be a £1 sur- charge on bank holidays; and a small increase in charges for waiting times. The proposal was unanimously sup- ported by the city council’s Regulatory and Appeals Com- mittee at its most recent meeting.


years over what it describes as a crisis in the Highland taxi trade, in Inverness in particular. ITA wrote originally to the ombudsman in March last year, and was told to exhaust all possible efforts with the council to resolve its issues before com- ing back. ITA chairman An- drew MacDonald said that time has come, and he has detailed ITA’s en- gagement with the council over the past two years in his return letter. Mr MacDonald told the Press and Jour- nal:


describes swered


“The letter unan-


emails,


months of silence, scant and misin- forming meeting minutes, an ignored petition, inadequate consultation


and


broken promises by the council. Top of ITA’s list is the lack of taxi ranks in Inver-


ness, a situation which came to a head earlier this year over the imminent closure of Castle Wynd in the city centre, a U-shaped close used by up to 28 taxis to pick up passengers quickly and move on. Mr MacDonald said: “This issue has been ongoing for


two


years without any sensible alternatives being offered.


In


truth and in fairness, it is difficult to imag- ine any suitable compromise. The only sensible solu- tion is to leave the present


arrange-


ment in place. “The council says the rank is closing and any future dis- cussions will focus on alternative ranks. But there are insuffi- cient rank spaces- 30 for more than 400 cars.” ITA has told the Ombudsman council


the is making


the taxi trade unsus- tainable by issuing far


too many


licences particularly to private hire cars, thus disadvantaging hackney carriage


licence holders. They also say the council is charging ‘exorbitantly high fees’ for licences, licence plates, vehi- cle tests and taxi- meter tests com- pared to other local authorities. Tariff rises effective this month are also far too high, with cus- tomers complaining, Mr


MacDonald


added. He said ITA’s hope is that the ombuds- man corrects long- standing unfairness by


the council


towards the taxi trade. A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “A copy of the letter to The Scottish Pub- lic Services Ombud- sman from the Inver- ness Taxi Alliance has been received by the Highland Council Chief Execu- tive. The letter will be acknowledged in due course.” Mr MacDonald ad- ded: “ITA is now an affiliate member of GMB trade union, and the letter will be sent to them to lay all the facts before them.”


33


The planned cre- ation of more taxi ranks in the heart of Whitehaven will curb late night dis- order in the town, according to police. The News and Star reports that a coun- ty council meeting heard that greater


taxi rank provision would help stop “disputes”, reducing crime and disorder in the town. The proposal won the backing of members of the county coun- cil’s local committee for Copeland, des- pite concerns from


WHITEHAVEN: EXTRA TAXI RANKS TO CURB DISORDER


businesses that the measures might actually fuel antiso- cial behaviour and leave them without a loading bay after business hours. Work is expected to start on implement- ing the changes in spring.


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