102 PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY
MAY 2009 ROUNDTHE EAST STAFFS: TAXI DRIVERS ‘KICKED INTEETH’ BY THE COUNCIL
Taxi drivers in Burton say they are being ‘kicked in the teeth’ by new council policies on how they operate. East Staffordshire Pri- vate Hire and Taxi Association has hit out at East Staffordshire Borough Council after members received let- ters telling them policies and procedures had changed, despite the association voicing opposition to them. Vice chairman of the association Byron Hurd told the Burton Mail: “We had a meeting with the licensing panel back in October in what we presumed was a constructive meeting and that they had taken everything on board.” One of the new policies being introduced by the council asks for exist-
ing and new drivers to take a disability aware- ness test which the association believes is unnecessary. Mr Hurd said: “We’ve all been in business for many years and if we don’t know how to help a person who is a wheelchair user into our vehicles or help them out of our vehi- cles yet then we’ll never know.” Another decision by the council is for door panels carrying the taxi firm’s name to be changed to a uniform borough council design which, the asso- ciation says, will confuse customers. Mr Hurd said: “It’s going to confuse the public. They won’t be able to tell which car is a hackney carriage or which is a private hire
car and they won’t be able to tell which partic- ular company is picking them up.” To comply with the new requirements, taxi driv- ers will have to buy their own panels from the council. Association Chairman Mohammed Ikhlaq said: “It’s a lot ofmoney especially in the current economic climate, because here we are trying to keep our head above the water and we’re still getting kicked in the teeth for it.” The council has also told the drivers they will be required to undergo a Driving Standards Agency (DSA) test regardless of whether they already have a public service vehicles (PSV) or heavy goods vehicle (HGV) licence.
NORTH TYNESIDE: DRIVERS OUTRAGEDOVER NEWPOLICY
Taxi drivers have threat- ened to take their fight against a new policy imposed by a council further. Hackney and private hire
throughout
companies the bor-
ough are outraged that the policy was approved by members of North Tyneside Council’s regulation and review committee despite a number of concerns being high- lighted last year. Although council officers had held a consultation period, the document was approved last month without any amendments. Alan Fidler, secretary of the North Tyneside Taxi Organisation, has said they will now take their battle to the Local Gov- ernment Ombudsman while some parts of the policy could be chal- lenged in the Magistrates’ Court. Mr Fidler told the News Guardian: “In my opin- ion,
the document
going to the committee was wholly flawed and contained errors.” He had written an 11- page letter to the council last September raising points about the policy from the taxi trade but says all were ignored
and left unanswered. Mr Fidler said: “There was general support for the maximum age of vehicles to be 12 years but that has been delet- ed from the policy without any reason given. “Little changes were made between the draft and final report. “Taxi companies are not happy with this and we will be implementing a referral with the local ombudsman and cer- tain issues could be appealed to the magis- trates courts due to unreasonable condi- tions.” Taxi owners also met Mayor John Harrison before the meeting in a bid to get the policy changed or for it to be discussed by cabinet then full council. But Mr Harrison was also barred from talking at the meeting. He said: “I was informed by the chairman of the committee and senior officers that my repre- sentations on behalf of the owners and drivers will not be taken into consideration. “I can only condemn that decision in the strongest term and ask for common sense to prevail, and I will con-
tinue to seek ways in which to improve the way we engage and encourage a stronger partnership between the council and the taxi and private hire trade. “They are a very impor- tant part of
economic infrastruc- ture
and are
the a
fundamental part of our public transport serv- ice, so we need to treat them as an important element and listen to what they have to say.” But a council spokesper- son said: “Councillors approved the policy put forward by the all-party working group after full consideration of the offi- cer’s report. “This policy has been developed following wide consultation with a range of groups including licence hold- ers, Northumbria Police, businesses, res- idents, local transport providers and service users. “The new policy indi- cates that the council intends to set up a new hackney carriage and private hire forum, which will provide an informal venue for all interested groups to discuss licensing poli- cy isues, as well as new policy initiatives.”
SOUTH DERBYSHIRE: DSATAXI TESTING TAKES OFF
Would-be taxi drivers wanting to work in the area covered by South Derbyshire District Council will soon have to be assessed by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) before being given a licence to drive a cab. Over 120 councils throughout Britain have already agreed to take taxi test- ing on board. The test
includes
manoeuvres designed specifically with the operational taxi driver
in mind and is set at a higher standard than the practical test for learner drivers. The
Wheeler, Leader of South Derbyshire Dis- trict Council
told assessment
ensures the compe- tence of the applicant to drive and carry pas- sengers in safety and comfort. Those who are successful receive a certificate of compe- tence. The taxi tests will be carried out at Burton on Trent and Derby driving test centres from 1 April. Councillor Heather
‘Driving’ Magazine: “South Derbyshire Dis- trict Council, is fully committed to improving road safety at all levels, and the opportunity to participate in the DSA Taxi and Private Hire Assessment Scheme was seen as an excel- lent way to ensure that all new drivers licensed by this council are of a consistently high stan- dard.”
NORTH EAST LINCS: TAXI CAB PROVISION
A cross-party working group will be estab- lished to discuss the way taxi provision in North East
Lin-
colnshire evolves in the future. The group, made up of councillors and repre- sentatives from the Hackney
Carriage
Association, will review taxi provision across the borough over a series of sessions and then put forward rec- ommendations. On the agenda will be discussions about intro- ducing a uniformed service, placing restric- tions on the age of vehicles and making a
BTEC training course mandatory for all drivers. The group will also consider results from a recent citizens’ panel quizzing North East Lincolnshire residents about taxi provision - which found that the majority of users were very pleased with cur- rent levels of service. North East Lincolnshire currently has about 700 taxi drivers in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles. John Seale, the coun- cil’s head of public protection, told the Grimsby Evening Tele- graph: “This decision shows a willingness to
work together to
improve the taxi service across the borough for the benefit of cus- tomers. “Although there are high levels of satisfac- tion about the service, it is important that the council acknowledges changing legislation and requirements to ensure the service is the best it can be for residents and the driv- ers themselves. “As a council, we will be listening to the views of drivers, customers and our own road transport team to
assess
changes to the current system.”
NEWPORT: NO UTURNONTAXI AGELIMIT RULING
A leading Newport councillor made it clear he has no intention of doing a U-turn on con- troversial new rules for the city’s taxis. Age restrictions for vehicles are being introduced for the first time and the decision led to a series of protests by taxi and private hire drivers. But
and Cllr David
Fouweather, cabinet member for the envi- ronment
community safety, said he was not going to change the rules. And he received the backing of not only col- leagues on his own side of the council chamber, but also from the Labour opposition. From October, private hire vehicles being licensed for the first time will have to be no
older than three years and three months, while hackney car- riages can be no older than five years. From August 2010, no purpose-built wheel chair-accessible hack- ney carriages older than 12 years and no private hire vehicles older than eight years will be re-licensed. Cllr
Fouweather
described claims that the regulations were being brought in solely for the Ryder Cup as a “red herring”. A 20-year-old vehicle could be reregistered on July 31 2010, and - provided it was road- worthy - could be issued with a licence for a further sixmonths. Cllr Margaret Corne- lious, who chairs the licensing committee,
told the South Wales Argus: “Our sole aimas a committee is to ensure that Newport has a standard of taxis which are both safe and comfortable.” Mrs Cornelious added that other local authori- ties including Torfaen, Cardiff,
Caerphilly,
Swansea, Vale of Glam- organ and Bridgend, already had age poli- cies - some demanding brand new vehicles at first registration. unlike Newport. Labour Cllr Herbie Thomas said that as far as he was aware, most of his colleagues basically agreed thai the quality of some taxis was “pretty poor” and the seeds for this policy were sown by the previous adminis- tration.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
