Councillor Sean MacLeod was quoted in Sussex World in September 2023 as stating:
“The number of Lewes District taxis has halved since 2019.
“Since 2019 the number of registered taxis in the Lewes District area has dropped by over 50%, from 716 to 349 vehicles, and just 8 WAV cars.
“According to a statement from Lewes DC: ‘Since the pandemic, most parts of the UK have seen a reduction in the number of taxi drivers. This is largely due to many leaving the trade to take up other roles, most notably as delivery drivers for online retailers and supermarkets.
"Demand for taxis during the pandemic was obviously low and it was inevitable that drivers looked for alternative employment opportunities. Bodies representing the taxi trade have also confirmed this trend.
“We are currently consulting on changes to our Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Guidance that will help recruit new drivers:
www.leweseastbourne.gov.uk/LDCTaxiConsultation”
“Councillor Sean MacLeod said: ‘As the previous licensing chair at Lewes District Council it was becoming clear that there were problems in retaining drivers. During the Covid 19 pandemic the government put out new guidance that meant lots of new strict and stringent rules on the trade.
‘It felt during my time as chair that the trade just couldn’t catch a break. I feel some decisions have really had a negative effect on the trade and the numbers now left in the trade are genuinely alarming.’
“Cllr Macleod largely puts the decline down to Lewes District Council’s requirement that all Hackney carriage vehicles (HCV) be white since 2019. Since then the trade has gone from 204 to 64 HCV vehicles.”
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/transport/the -number-of-lewes-district-taxis-has-halved-since- 2019-4275765
PHTM OCTOBER 2023
The above illustrates that Lewes DC was featured as being in the top five licensing authorities in England that saw a huge increase in licensing of private hire vehicle licences for 2018/19.
65
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data- sets/taxi01-taxis-private-hire-vehilces-and-their-drivers
LEWES PHV LICENSING HISTORY
Between 2018 - 2019 Lewes saw a boom in private hire driver/vehicle licensing, as reported by
the
government statistics above and by the DfT below where Lewes was featured in a special report.
The fact that it appears that misinformation has been used to justify the council’s proposal to reduce the requirements for a private hire driver licence application based on a claimed “…genuinely alarming…” drop in such numbers is extremely concerning.
However, information supplied by LDC on 19 Septem- ber to another party shows those numbers quoted by Cllr MacLeod are incorrect (see copy email over page) with actual numbers currently licensed being:
Hackney Carriages 104 and Private Hire Vehicles 585 In fact, the figure of 585 licensed private hire vehicle shows a rise in numbers.
The government holds a list of hackney carriage and private hire vehicle numbers which shows the following data as of April each year.
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