DEREG DILEMMA
NEWBURY’S CABBIES CALL FOR CRISIS TALKS
Beleaguered Newbury taxi drivers are chas- ing fewer fares, leading to confronta- tion and calls for a ban on new cabbies. Drivers and operators have scheduled a cri- sis meeting, and West Berkshire Council licensing officials are looking into the matter. A committee member for West Berkshire Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Operators’ Association, Bill Annetts, described the situation in the town centre as “a melee.” West Berkshire Council licensing officer Brian
Leahy told the New- bury Weekly News: “Before we could curb extra driver numbers there has to be a sur- vey, by law which will cost up to £14,000. The council will have to see if there’s money to do that and if not the charge will have to be met by the trade. On September 8 there was a full licensing committee meeting and this was to be the main item on the agenda. Meanwhile
Cabco,
West Berkshire’s largest taxi firm has joined in the row saying that imposing a limit is
not the answer. Instead they suggest that the council should apply more heavy regulation to the quality of vehi- cles to prevent part-time cabbies flooding into limited taxi-rank space at the weekends.
Cabco’s operations manager,
Kevin
Archibald, said: “We’re getting a lot of weekend warriors who license a really cheap vehicle. Regulating vehicle quality would ensure that only serious cab drivers would make the extra investment to gain a licence.”
TAXI DRIVER CALLS FOR CAP ON NUMBER OF DARLINGTON CABBIES
A taxi driver who says cabbies are having to work longer hours to make ends meet has called on the region’s councils to prevent more deaths by cap- ping the number of vehicles operating. George Jenkinson, of Darlington, was speaking following the death of 18-year-old Gary Glymond after he was struck by a taxi whose driver had been working for more than 13 hours.
Mr Jenkinson told the Northern Echo: “There are a lot of drivers not even making the mini- mum wage, and for
that reason they need to work longer hours.” A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said the authority had fewer hackney car- riages operating in Darlington than a year ago, with 176 now, compared with 215 in 2007-8.
In County Durham, taxi numbers in Durham City and Chester-le- Street are capped, but elsewhere taxi num- bers are unrestricted. John Worrall, the owner of Moor Private Hire, in Langley Moor, County Durham, said capping the number of taxis created a black
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market in plates. He said because they were so sought after, he had known plates to sell illegally for up to £40,000, although he conceded that driv- ers’ profit margins were very tight. Neil Smalley, a public safety manager at Durham County Coun- cil, said the council was in the early stages of consultation on taxi provision in the county. He said: “Views from all interested parties will be sought over the coming months, with any final decisions not expected before spring next year.”
NEATH PORT TALBOT COUNCIL’S CAP ON CABBIES
Recession-hit taxi driv- ers are celebrating after winning council support for plans to limit the number of taxis on their roads. Members of Neath Port Talbot Council’s licensing committee unanimously app- roved the scheme at a meeting last month. “We’ve got drivers struggling to feed their children, struggling to keep their homes,” Bob Hoyles, chair of the Neath Taxi Propri- etors’ Association, told the Neath Guardian. The plans, which were initially proposed by
Mr Hoyles in a letter to the council in April, would see the number of taxis on the county borough roads capped for the next five years. The figure currently stands at 278 and could rise to 300 before the cap comes into effect. Although it has been approved in prin- ciple, the council will now have to consult drivers and carry out an unmet demand survey that could cost up to £20,000, although half of the final figure will be funded by drivers. Although the number will be capped, new
operators would be able to apply for licences when they are surren- dered by existing drivers. Similar plans were rejected by the council in 2001, when there were around 200 licensed taxis.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Hoyles said: “It’s not a decision we thought we were going to achieve but I think we put a fabulous argument across. “Luckily we’ve got a licensing committee that can see further than the end of its nose. It’s an excellent decision.”
TAKE THE CAP OFF?? SALFORD SAYS NO!!
Last month the Salford Joint Cab Trade Com- mittee organised a mass rally and protest in Salford. Over 100 taxis and private hire vehicles got together to say a massive “NO CHANCE” to the coun- cil’s de-limitation policy.
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Hackneys from all over the North West met up at the Quays for a two-hour drive around the city (that turned into three hours). They came from the Wirral, City of Liverpool, Manchester, Chester, Halton and Trafford. Thursday 17th Sep- tember will surely be a day that the city’s councillors will remem- ber. The convoy almost completely encircled Salford Town Hall and when it arrived at Turn- pike House it brought the whole site to a complete standstill whilst a letter was hand delivered to licensing officials.
The trade group would like to thank all the people who helped and took part. The whole point of the protest was to publi- cise the drivers’ plight and to make another
attempt to get the council to sit down face to face with the trade committee for the first time since this all started - which was an amazing twelve months ago!!!
The Council have yet to sit down in any type of discussion with the trade group!
The trade say that all they are after is a full and meaningful con- sultation using the ethic that local condi- tions require local remedies.
The surrounding Bor- oughs – 1: Trafford (maintain- ing limit for three years after an unmet demand survey) 2: Stockport (con- trolled growth of four per cent per year for three years after an
unmet demand survey) 3: Manchester (the leaders and forerun- ners for the last eight years of controlled growth – new survey planned for next year) 4: Bolton (re-regulat- ed after a disastrous de-limitation policy) 5: Bury (re-limited after a disastrous de- limitation policy) Salford is not an island; it is bang in the middle of all of the above areas. What is the reason for this change of policy? The hackney trade have offered five per cent growth per year after an unmet demand sur- vey to defend against legal challenges. This would give Salford a 17 per cent growth policy in three years. Watch this space.
PHTM OCTOBER 2009
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