IN THE NEWS
GET FUNDING FOR A TAXI LICENCE IN HULL AS AUTHORITIES TARGET DRIVER SHORTAGE
The Department of Work and Pensions and Hull City Council are putting in place new plans to get more people into taxi driving to try and solve the shortage of drivers in the city. According to HullLive, members of the industry in the city have complained about the battle to recruit workers, which has left them contending with demand surges at peak times, made worse after the Covid-19 pandemic. Many drivers found alternative employ- ment during the pandemic and never returned to the sector and now the council alongside the DWP are search- ing for ways to entice new drivers. The council has plans to bring all training in-house through the Hull City Learn- ing and Development Service and the DWP is offering funding for those considering taking up a licence. In a review of industry training, the council has previously heard the cost of the current course, which Hull drivers have been required to do since
2013, could be creating barriers to people entering the trade. Councillors heard plans during a recent licensing committee that would see training brought in-house and stream- lined, as well as being offered at a reduced price. The course will cover regulations, licensing conditions, equality and working with disabled customers, as well as health and safety and what to do in an emergency. Speakers would also be invited to talk to applicants about specialist topics and those who pass would be given a certificate with support for trainees struggling with certain modules. The new course, due to start in June 2022, will be free for the first six months before a £100 fee is introduced (compared to £400 it currently costs). Alongside this, the DWP has announced that they are currently working with the council the help those thinking of becoming taxi drivers
with the licensing fees. Sarah Blackwell, Employer Engage- ment Manager in Hull said: “Taxi driving is a big one for us at the moment as there is a recognised short- age of drivers in the area. We’ve been working with those in the industry and have identified that licensing fees was something that often put off new drivers. “For that reason we have found fund- ing to be able to help people with those fees. This is something that came off the back of conversations with the city council to help get busi- ness back to the levels they were before the pandemic and part of that is making sure people can get to and from the city.” Despite the recruitment drive, there are concerns over the safety of cus- tomers, particularly the elderly, vulnerable, disabled and women taking taxis at night with the new ‘fast-track’ courses.
ISLE OF MAN CABBIES REJECT ON-DEMAND MINIBUS REVIEW OUTCOME THAT SAYS IT’S NOT ANTI-COMPETITIVE
Isle of Man taxi drivers have rejected a review which found the government’s on-demand minibuses were “unlikely” to be anti-competitive. BBC News reports that the services started in 2018, serving the north of the island and the ports. Industry body Unite Taxis said the independent investigation into the Bus Vannin initiative had “fundamen- tal flaws in its definition of the market”. The Department of Infrastructure (DoI) has welcomed the review as a “fair appraisal of the situation”. The demand responsive transport, which replaced scheduled bus ser- vices in several villages, was judged to
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have had a “limited impact” on taxis in the report. Unite Taxis secretary, Mike Birchall, said the review, conducted by accoun- tancy firm Grant Thornton on behalf of the Office of Fair Trading, failed to recognise pre-booked taxis were already providing a demand respon- sive service. He accused the government of trying to “steal as much work from taxis as possible”, and said the suggestion that Bus Vannin had entered a new market was a “load of rubbish”. “Buses were never thought of as pick- ing you up at your back door and then dropping you back there,” he said. He added that the island-wide roll out
of this form of public transport would have a “devastating effect” on the taxi trade and would “destroy jobs”. In a statement, the DoI said the dial-a- ride offer had helped passengers in rural areas who would “struggle to afford taxi fares”. A spokesman for Bus Vannin con- firmed the operator had applied to the Road Transport Licensing Com- mittee to extend the dial-a-ride service in the north to include Friday and Saturday evenings. A licence would also be sought to offer the same services in Dalby, Bal- lamodha and St Marks, where “few buses run”, to link passengers to the main network, he added.
MARCH 2022
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