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NORTH STAFFS CABBIES DEMAND GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AFTER 10PM CURFEW DESTROYS TRADE
North Staffs cabbies have warned the new 10pm pubs curfew will see their recovering businesses lose half of their current trade. PH drivers saw their firms running on just 15 per cent of their usual custom in the months since the March lockdown. But through the summer, with pubs and restaurants reopen- ing, the trade has returned to 85 per cent of their pre-pandemic business. Now cabbies fear they will see a sharp drop in custom due to the 10pm curfew recently imposed and they have called on the Gov- ernment to provide some form of support package to cabbies. Shahraz Yaqub, chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Private Hire Drivers’ Association told StokeonTrentLive: “With pubs and restau- rants closing early, trade will be very quiet and we call on the Government to provide financial support. The trade returned to 85
per cent after the first lockdown was lifted and things started to return to normality. But I think trade will drop by around 40 per cent with the new curfew restrictions.” The hackney trade has also warned their businesses will be hard hit. With their tak- ings dropping to virtually non-existent levels during the lockdown, and only just beginning to pick up again, Secretary of the
Newcastle Hackney Carriage Association, Murtaza Alam, said: “Most of the hackney carriage trade is in the town centre and from the pubs and clubs. We’re already struggling. With these new restrictions it will be more difficult for us. “During the first lockdown, the rank was totally closed and we had no trade and many businesses were lost. It started pick- ing up a little bit in June, but clubs still aren’t open and there is reduced activity. “We’ve had some help from Government with the Self-Employed Income Scheme, but that’s not enough for taxi drivers as there are a lot of expenses that don’t go away when business is down. “We have insurance, licence fees, MoT, road tax. The scheme does cover expenses, but we’re not here to just make expenses - we here to make a living. What about our families?”
NOTTINGHAM TAXI DRIVERS FEAR THE IMPACT NEW 10PM CURFEW WILL HAVE ON THEIR LIVELIHOODS
Nottingham taxi drivers are working extended hours to make ends meet - and some explained why the new 10pm curfew for pubs, bars and restaurants will have a ‘massive impact’ on the city’s cabbies. As the new coron- avirus restrictions came into effect on 24 September, Az- eem Hanif, 48, chairman of the Not- tingham Branch of the App Drivers’ and Courier Union, told the Nottingham Post: “We’re very dependent on people being out. People were still reluctant at the begin- ning of the easing of lockdown. Then we had the Eat Out to Help Out - that slowly started to bring business back and people were starting to get a little bit more confi- dence in coming out. Things were starting to develop and get back to some form of pre-lockdown normality. “Now with the 10pm curfews in place - that’s going to have another massive impact on our sector. Because, again, if the hospitality industry is not running full time then it has a knock-on effect for us.” Speaking about current trade levels, Mr Hanif, of Basford, said drivers were having
Azeem Hanif 40
to work longer hours to make money. “Generally speaking most drivers were probably on the road for between six and ten hours on a regular shift - that would be a normal shift pattern whether you’re a day driver or a night driver, and you would be one or the other. What we’re now finding - after having conversations with some black cab drivers - is because earnings have com-
pletely nosedived some drivers are barely making minimum wage per hour before your expenses. It’s very tough at the minute. “As the hours are now restricted, drivers are mixing the shift - so, rather than doing six to ten hours, some drivers are now doing 12- plus hours and mixing day into night shifts. “So a driver may come out at 1pm and work right the way round to 1am, for example.”
‘THEY’VE DESTROYED MY BUSINESS!’ MANSFIELD DRIVER RAGES AT LOCKDOWN
A Mansfield taxi driver has claimed strict Covid-19 rules meant he was working up to 16 hours a day to make ends meet. The driv- er, Naz, said that he has lost 95 per cent of his business due to the lockdown. He said: “The high streets are really suffering big time. Day to day we see the shops boarding up and shutting down. It’s just unbelievable. “Even as taxi drivers, it has a major effect on us. Since lockdown, people aren’t going to work, we’re just stuck on a taxi rank, waiting. “To be honest, it was that bad for us to sur- vive, a few of us were working up to 16 hours a day just to make ends meet. We have no choice because at the end of the day we’ve still got mortgages to pay, bills to pay. “It’s okay the Government saying that we can have a mortgage holiday, a mortgage break or have a break on your bills but at
the end of the day we’ve still got to pay that. “They’ve man- aged to pull the plug and say, ‘nobody go out’. They have des- troyed my business. I’ve virtually lost 95 percent of my business. If there is another lockdown I don’t know what we’re going to do.” Naz was speaking during the Blue Collar Conservatism Conference 2020, a virtual event designed to listen to the views of grassroots voters in new Conservative seats across the UK.
OCTOBER 2020
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