...COVID CONSCIOUS COMPANIES
tests temporarily “but may require an inspection to be completed once things return to normal”.
They are providing a letter to all licence holders who have renewed (yes, they have to pay the fees) but to whom they cannot currently issue plates and badges; this letter must be carried in the vehicle at all times and the proprietor/driver may continue to operate on the previous licence(s).
PHTM heard from long-standing NPHTA member Swift Fox Cabs based in the cen- tre of Leicester.
Director Tracey
Whitehead told us: “We are still trading; during Monday-Friday daytimes we have between six and ten cars out, and for nights and weekends we only have two to three out. We do however have wheelchair accessible vehicles available which include a few London taxis, and two eight-seater transit vans which can carry three wheelchairs and have tail lifts. “It’s only a small fleet working at present, but it all helps.”
WYRE FOREST
Trevor Owen, of long-standing NPHTA member Regency Taxis in Kidderminster, told PHTM: “Currently we have about 25 per cent of drivers working. We are only undertaking journeys that we deem to be essential: mainly food shopping and doc- tor/hospital appointments.
“From the start of this our drivers have been issued with antiseptic wipes and hand gel, both for their own and our cus- tomers’ use.
“We have set up laptops to automatically send texts to all of our customers to inform them of the extra services we can provide for them in these difficult times. This includes collecting from local stores and prescriptions for a flat fee. So that we may do this at the cheapest price we’ve been in contact with local shops to ensure the orders are waiting for us and they have cooperated magnificently.
“Our company has an excellent booking/despatch and phone system. We have had an app, IVR and voice recogni- tion for some time but we have not pushed these onto our customers, preferring to
MAY 2020
stand out from Uber etc. That policy is now paying dividends as our excellent staff, drawn from our local community, can iden- tify those who need us most and can give them a call to reassure them of our pres- ence and what we have to offer.
“Our local council stopped testing cars for the time being and licence renewals are by email only. For those who have problems with this there is leeway. Overall their approach has been sensible and communication is good.”
TORBAY
Proprietor Paul LeHuray of NPHTA mem- ber Torbay Taxis told us the impact of this dreadful lockdown situation on his com- pany as “something we’d never had to deal with before, that is for sure. Job vol- ume is 75 per cent down, and the same percentage of drivers down. We’ve had to furlough 15 office staff; there is less shift work. When the schools go back we can bring staff back in.
“We started doing grocery deliveries, as we needed all the work possible for drivers. But these deliveries are all for the local outlets, not the supermarkets. For- tunately we have an NHS contract – which as you can imagine is busy, with a steady flow of passengers. Some of our drivers wear masks, and we’re looking into pro- tection screens for the saloons.”
Torbay Council has followed Government guidelines as regards the six-month MoT extension; “However if the registered testing station is still able to conduct taxi and private hire vehicle compliance tests, then the advice from Government is that these should continue to take place if the testing station is able to continue follow- ing the health advice regarding Covid-19.”
There appears to be no advice pertaining to renewal of drivers’ badges.
WEST BERKSHIRE
Taxi and private hire licensing is one of many shared services provided by Brack- nell Forest Council, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Coun- cil. However, it would appear that their
change of procedures during the lock- down is not consistent across the three authorities.
We chatted to Dave Park, proprietor of NPHTA member Berkshire Education Ser- vices, who told us: “Bracknell Council, after much agonising, decided to pay 50 per cent for school runs that are suspend- ed, but only if we disclose all our operating figures to them as an open- books requirement.
“We would also be obliged to pass this payment on to our drivers. This does not help the company in any way, or help pay the wages of mechanics or office staff. Our overheads are the same; for instance, our vehicle insurance premium is in excess of £100k per year. We will try to survive on our own; I expect there are lots of us in the same boat. Bracknell Council has given no other help with fees or test- ing whatsoever.”
On the other hand, West Berkshire Coun- cil advised the NPHTA during our lockdown survey that they are “allowing non-working drivers, vehicles and opera- tors to ‘halt’ the licence and defer payments until working again.” If taxi licensing is a shared service, surely this should be applicable to all three authori- ties…?
MENDIP
A good many PHTM readers will know Chris Wickham, proprietor of long-stand- ing NPHTA member CJW Taxis in Glastonbury. For many years now Chris has been the exponent of defence of our drivers’ livelihoods in the face of compe- tition from ‘volunteer’ drivers – “You know, the ones who get paid mileage despite their insurance saying ‘Not for
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