ROUND THE COUNCILS.. PLYMOUTH: HACKNEY CARRIAGE FEES FROZEN
Plymouth City Council is to freeze taxi licence fees due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Plymouth Herald reports that the council’s regulation of hackneys and PHVs has to be self-financing from fees, with no cross-subsidy between the accounts, and a five-year plan has been agreed to ensure the books balance. Councillors on the Taxi Licensing Committee heard at a meeting that the service had made cost savings, but a review found the fee for the hackney carriage drivers licence was required to go up from April. However, because of the impact of the pandemic, councillors agreed with a proposal to freeze the fee to help drivers and avoid hardship due to the fall in trade caused by restrictions. They also agreed as a result to delay the target to balance the books on the HC account by a year to 2024/25. Cllr Ian Tuffin said the proposal to freeze fees was sensible and “hit the right note” as the full effects of the pandemics were still unknown. Licensing manager Rachael Hind told the meeting that figures showed a drop in HC licences of eight per cent and PH of 11 per cent. She said some drivers had a three-year licence, so the effect of the pandemic on numbers was unclear. She said savings had been made in staffing and legal costs for the service and the accounts would be kept under review. Mrs Hind added: “It is a difficult time at the moment, we don’t know how quickly we are going to recover in terms of the vaccination. But we have made savings, and we are in a lot better position than we would have been.” Committee Chair, Gareth Derrick, said: “Clearly it’s been a difficult year for so many people in so many ways, and not the least taxi drivers .
MELTON: HAVE YOUR SAY ON PROPOSED POLICY
Melton residents are being asked their views on taxi and PHV procedures in the local area. Following implementation of the DFT’S new Statutory Guid- ance, Melton Borough Council has proposed a new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy for the borough. It sets out minimum standards that will be applied when licensing HCs, PHV, drivers and operators. The consultation period opened on Wednesday 17 February 2021 and closes midnight Wednesday 14 April 2021. To have your say visit the current consultations page on:
www.melton.gov.uk/currentconsultations - and send your comments to
licensing@melton.gov.uk before the consulta- tion closes.
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EAST STAFFORDSHIRE: TAXI FARES SET TO GO UP
Fares are expected to go up across East Staffordshire after a plea from drivers to the borough council. According to StaffordshireLive, other charges will also be increased, with flat fees for travelling with pet dogs and journeys after midnight doubled. Abid Hussain, boss of Burton’s Premier Taxis, based in Station Street, said: “When trade starts picking up again, a lot of companies will effectively be starting again from zero and will have to work hard to get trade. We have to think about making a living and we have to survive to make sure the service is still there for people. “I’m sure there will be some negative reaction to the idea, but people have to understand it would be the first time fares have been raised in ten years. A lot of the drivers I know have already quit the trade to work factory shifts.” The new charges will see a five-mile journey cost £12.05, compared to the current cost of £11.05. The waiting charge is 10p per 20 seconds, but the new charge will be 20p per 30 seconds. Cabbies will continue to charge time-and-a-half where there are four or more passengers.
BURNLEY: CCTV ON CARDS IN TAXIS AND PHVS
Burnley Borough’s Council’s Licensing Committee may require the installation of CCTV cameras in its PHVs and licensed taxis. It also recommends introducing basic English tests for drivers and maintaining current licensing fees. The report to councillors said: “In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is recommended to leave taxi fees unchanged for 2021. The year’s activity on taxi-related work has been largely in response to the pandemic and it would be inappropriate to pass those costs over to the taxi trade.” This recommendation was approved. The officers added: “The new DfT statutory standards of July 2020, are prescriptive as to the measures local authorities are expected to have in place regarding taxi and PHV licensing and are clear that these measures are driven by requirements regarding protection of vulnerable persons. Current practices already meet some of the standards prescribed by the DfT, however, other elements will require a review of policies and procedures.” The recommendation to review the existing policy was presented to the licensing committee when they met on Thursday 4 February, although no actual measures were set in place at that time; the committee accepted the recommendation to review the existing policy to ensure that the changes were included.
MARCH 2021
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