ROUND THE COUNCILS FIFE:
CALLS FOR RESIGNATION OVER FARES
Fife taxi operators have called for the resignation of the Licensing Committee convenor as council failure cost the trade over six months of lost fare increases. Taxi fares should have risen on 3 December 2025 but Fife Council missed the deadline and there will not be an increase now until the summer. According to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, fare scales have to be reviewed at intervals not exceeding 18 months. The current fare scale came into effect on 3 June 2024. Fife Council’s taxi fare review process was formally initiated on 9 September 2025, with the committee agreeing to commence the 2025 fare review and publish proposed scales for consultation. The consultation ran until 10 November 2025, ahead of the intended new scale effective on 3 December 2025. However, the Committee failed to implement the new fare scale at meetings on 2 December or 13 January, where the increase didn’t even feature on the agenda. At a heated meeting on 3 February, business owners expressed anger to Depute Convenor, Cllr Patrick Browne, that the Committee’s failure to follow its statutory obligations in time meant operators lost out on months of fare increases. Fife Council solicitor Steven Paterson agreed the council had failed to meet its obligations and apologised to operators. Operators rejected the Depute Convenor’s attempt to blame operators for the delay, as they objected to how small the increases were at the statutory consultation. They said the Committee should have listened to operators in the first place and set more realistic fare scales. They accused the Committee of being out of touch with the trade, with few, if any, of the members having experience of running a taxi company. East Fife Taxi Association (EFTA) spokesperson Linda Holt, who was at the meeting, commented: “Taxi operators have to comply with a whole raft of legislation and regulation - if they fail to do so, they have to pay. When Fife Council fails to fulfil its statutory duties, they don’t pay but taxi operators do. “This is a significant failure by the Committee which is costing operators dearly when trading is already extremely hard. For many small operators, six months of delayed increases represents thousands of pounds in lost income. We want to see some accountability from the Committee, which is why we are calling for the resignation of its convenor Cllr Tom Adams. We
PHTM MARCH 2026
have written to Cllr Adams on numerous occasions in the past year and have never received a reply.” “The reason the Licensing Committee called the meeting with operators was to discuss vehicle age limits, a meeting which was initially promised for the autumn after EFTA wrote to Licensing in early August last year. The requirement that vehicles must be less than five years’ old at first registration and must be taken off the road by the time they are ten years old imposes a significant financial burden on operators. “Operators feel they are being squeezed from all sides - rising costs, strict vehicle policies, and now delayed fare decisions. Every day the Licensing Committee dithers and delays on raising fare scales and lifting vehicle age limits, operators in Fife are losing money and leaving the trade.”
BARNSLEY: DRIVERS FACE 10% HIKE IN FEES
Barnsley taxi and private hire drivers are looking at a potential 10 per cent increase in licensing fees as the local council moves to balance its books. Under new proposals agreed at the licensing regulatory board on February 11, the cost of a standard one-year driver’s licence would jump from £150 to £165, while those opting for a three-year licence would see prices climb from £240 to £264. Fees for vehicle licences would increase from £180 to £198, and operator licences would rise depending on their length. The council insists the price hike is a necessary step to ensure that fees “accurately reflect the cost of running the licensing service,” including processing applications, checks/inspections and issuing licences. According to the report, the licensing team has ramped up its workload, specifically increasing the number of compliance checks. To justify the increases, officers conducted detailed time-monitoring studies to pin-point exactly how long each administrative task takes. The council launched a 28-day public consultation on 13 February finishing at midnight of 13 March 2026. If objections are received, then the council must consider these and then make the decision to approve or amend the fees and charges accordingly. You can submit your responses via: Email:
licensing@barnsley.gov.uk (Subject Title: Fees and Charges Review 2026) The council plans to review the fees again in a year to keep costs aligned with the service provided.
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