INDUSTRY EXPERT REFLECTIONS
Is it time for this depressing cycle to be broken?
No matter how much people like to imagine that they are king of their own castle and anything that happens outside of the four walls of their office can’t be influenced, changed or simply doesn’t matter, the truth is it does matter, and it matters a lot. For busi- nesses to thrive i.e. be profitable, to grow, prosper and provide either a decent exit value or something worth passing onto the kids, the industry needs to be in good shape. Turning the other cheek every time there’s talk of regulatory or legislative change, or in the case of VAT fiscal restructuring, mitigates against the basic tenets of business management. Whilst not everyone will have the know-how, the time or the appetite to lobby, they can join one of the representative organ- isations so that they can collectively work on your behalf. Whether you belong to anything or not at the very least everyone should complete a consultation.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the regulatory bar is continually rising, the number of people using taxi and PH services is reducing, and if we’re not very careful, we may well find businesses being squeezed out of the industry or simply out of business. I don’t say these things to alarm anyone; I don’t naturally fit into ‘the end is nigh’ type of thinking, but just take a look at what is actually happening and decide if you agree or not. A 2-3% reduction each year quickly becomes a big number, through compounding, adjusting fares and driver charges to shield you from the impact has a fi- nite life cycle, especially given the price competition experienced in many areas of the market. If you have less work, you have less drivers, if you have less drivers your service levels drop, if you charge more or your ser- vice is less reliable, you will have less customers, and if VAT is thrown into the mix, it won’t be long before you have no business -sorry but that’s real life. If you feel that it will probably be okay, I wish you luck. If however you share my concerns and feel that leaving your fu- ture, your family’s future and the future of your busi- ness to probability then either join up or get busy.
Representative bodies need to actually be representative
If the industry is going to be attracted to joining a representative organisation, representative they need to be. Representative organisations need to critically
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consider how representative they really are. What are the processes for gathering member feedback, devel- oping policy, consulting on proposals to government and local government before campaigns start? Do organisations have the skills to look forward, horizon scan and provide thought leadership as to what the industry could and should look like in the years ahead?
Poorly resourced organisations that are just reactive to whatever the latest crazy idea is won’t cut it. To be worthy of being considered truly representative a lot more effort needs to go into the full process of repre- sentation. Old war stories, vested interests, whinge fests and slapstick routines at annual trade shows do not equal representation.
The plates are moving
Next year will be interesting to say the least, the con- sultations will be long closed, the evidence gathered and the proposals for legislation, regulation etc. will be in chain. We will all be charging 20% more or not. AVs will be involved in live trials. What we don’t know is whether this industry will be heartily involved in fashioning our future or bleating from the sidelines about how unfair it all is. The AV naysayers with their ‘it will never happen’ mantra will be silenced once the pilots start. Will the industry be developing proposals to policymakers or holding bucket collections with the forlorn hope of stopping things happening or rever- sing the decisions which have been through proper and legitimate process? Will cross-border be replaced by unworkable systems that damage hitherto viable businesses? Think it could not happen, then look at the system pre- Deregulation Act.
The plates are moving, change will happen with or without us.
NOVEMBER 2025 PHTM
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