Talk to
Swinton for cheap taxi insurance
Calls may be recorded
0800 0727031
swintontaxi.co.uk
Mercury booking and despatch systems with
GUARANTEED FINANCE
*Subject to credit status and terms & conditions. *
www.phtm.co.uk march 2011 The official newspaper of the National Private Hire Association FREE 12 month trial
Stay in control with Mercury call 01623 442211 or visit
www.exelmanagement.com
Nearly £100,000 has been paid out to taxi drivers in Guildford fol- lowing a council blunder that meant legislation was not cor- rectly complied with. Guildford Borough Council has paid £97,300 to the cabbies since December because it had failed to advertise fee increases to vehicle and operator licences since 2003.
Disgruntled members of the Guildford Hack- ney Association made a formal objection to public services’ watch- dog the Audit Commission in Sep- tember about the licence fee increases and two other issues. In addition to the coun- cil’s failure to advertise, an associa- tion spokesman maintained that the council did not keep proper records of costs and that fees charged were in excess of costs. In his report, district auditor Paul Grady agreed in part with the
Pay less for taxi insurance
and get 3 months free Personal Accident cover*
Choose Swinton Taxi Division for: • COVER for private and public hire
• EXTRA protection with Breakdown cover and Driver’s Legal Protection
Call Today! Get a quote, get a sticker and it could be you I tip £1000!
• CHEAP QUOTES over the phone • GENEROUS no claims discounts • FLEXIBLE payment options
TES over the phone Get our cheapest quote and Personal Accident cover today! Personal accident cover insured by MMA Insurance plc.
*This offer can be altered or removed at any time. For full terms and conditions please visit
www.mysterytipper.co.uk Swinton Taxi Division is a division of Swinton Group Limited, registered in England number 756681, which is connected for the purposes of the Insurance Companies Regulations 1994 to MMA Insurance plc and Gateway Insurance Company Limited. Registered offi ce: Swinton House, 6 Great Marlborough Street, Manchester M1 5SW. Calls may be recorded. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Call 0800 409 6490 or visit
www.swintontaxi.co.uk Check out the Mystery Tipper on Facebook
taxi drivers, noting the unlawful licence increases. He said there was scope for the council to keep better records of the costs and fees for each type of licence. Crucially, he also dis- agreed with the council’s interpretation of legislation - a read- ing that allowed it to include enforcement costs in the fees charged for driver and operator licences. However, he ruled out any application to the courts on any of the issues. In the decision letter Mr Grady said: “There is, on balance, no benefit from seek- ing a declaration to this effect from the court.
“The council accepts that the fees charged in excess of the last advertised fees are unlawful and acknowl- edges it did not
comply with legislative requirements in setting the fee. It has informed me it intends to refund any fees which have been raised unlawful- ly.”
Although the council has now made efforts to right the unlawful increases, some cab- bies believe the council may owe them up to an additional £5million for wrongly factoring in the enforcement costs to the fees of driver and operator licences. Sue Sturgeon, chief financial officer at the council, said the pay- out reflected six financial years - span- ning from April 2003 until the end of March 2009 - when fee increases were not advertised.
According to ‘Get Sur- rey’, she said: “It was simply an error. We had not advertised in
accordance with legis- lation.”
Mark Rostron, vice chairman and secre- tary of the Guildford Hackney Association, said many taxi drivers continued to be unhappy with the council’s handling of taxi issues. He said communication and consultation with driv- ers was lacking. “As regards the out- standing money, I am disappointed that the council has not made more effort to get in touch with drivers - who may be retired or have moved - to give them back what is their money.”
Mr Rostron said his association took a peti- tion to Guildford MP Anne Milton to make all its grievances known. Check out Opinion in this issue, which examines the implica- tions of this story.
with Toyota Avensis
See page 95 Freephone 0800 587 9624
www.cabdirect.com
cashback MARCH SPECIAL
GUILDFORD COUNCIL "COULD OWE £5M” TO CABBIES AFTER ERROR
01582 466800
www.auriga.co.uk
issue 222
issue 222 by Auriga Systems
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
