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SHEFFIELD CABBIES COMPLAIN THAT THE AND TELL COUNCILLORS THE CHANGES
Taxi drivers are complaining about Sheffield’s City Council’s CAZ and the new charges to commercial vehicles.
Altan Alan, 49, Sheffield taxi driver said: “We’re dying as it is, with everything going up, the cost of living going up. They say it’s only £10 a day but you add that up, I’ll end up paying £240 a month. Its a cash grab, a money con.” From 27 February, commercial vehicles entering the A61 ring road, that didn’t meet Euro diesel 6 or Euro petrol 4 standards, were flagged using automatic number plate recognition. The charge is £50 for buses and lorries and £10 for taxis or light goods vehicle. Taxi drivers say this will lead to even higher fares and further loss of business to an already decrepit high street. Another local driver, Mr Khan, said: “The council should represent the best interest of Sheffield citizens, but they are not. The money they got to implement this scheme should be invested in transport and in the city centre. Many drivers were also confused by
the council’s decision,
considering the city was already below emissions targets. A representative of Absolute Cabs in Doncaster who regularly bring people into Sheffield said that the scheme may not make much of a difference to air pollution. They said: “People will still go to where they need to go” and that ultimately “the passengers will have to pay more money or take more time to get where they want to go.”
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They also pointed out how this will mostly affect drivers with vehicles older than 2017. Sheffield City Council says it is not aiming to make money from the zone and has implemented schemes to help owners upgrade their vehicles, but Mr Khan said this wouldn’t go far enough: “They are going to give me £6,000 to buy a £70,000 car?” Private vehicles will be exempt from the charges and businesses in Sheffield and Rotherham could be eligible to apply for a temporary exemption until 5 June 2023. This temporary exemption will also automatically apply to hackney carriages that are licensed with Sheffield City Council. The revenue from the charges will only be spent on running the zone and towards other air pollution projects and city centre transport. The funding from the zone can only be spent on the costs to run the zone, and projects to reduce air pollution in Sheffield. If payments are not made within 7 days, additional penalty charges may apply. Meanwhile, Sheffield taxi drivers
have told councillors that their trade will be “decimated” because of the cost of complying with the new city centre CAZ rules and new regulations. Drivers said that many hackney carriage drivers may just opt to become private hire drivers instead because of the cost of new cabs compliant with the CAZ and their lack of availability. Taxi drivers asked questions at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s waste and street scene policy committee on Wednesday, February 15, which agreed a new hackney carriage policy. The new policy originally stated that from January 2025 all newly- licensed vehicles must be zero emission capable but this has now been put back to January 2027 because of issues over vehicle demand, cost and lengthy waiting times. A report to the committee said that new electric and hybrid hackneys “are extremely expensive compared to their fossil fuel counterparts – an electric/hybrid is around £70K, whereas a Euro 6 diesel is somewhat cheaper.” The report adds: “It is thought likely, initially at least, that people will opt for the cheapest option, which will be a Euro 6 diesel, compliant with the CAZ. “This compromise is deemed a necessary step, as moving directly to hybrid and electric will see the hackney fleet decimated and will have
knock-on effects on the
availability of wheelchair- accessible vehicles.” All new hackney carriages will also have to be wheelchair accessible.
MARCH 2023 PHTM
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