ROUND THE COUNCILS SWINDON:
WINCHESTER:
PASSENGERS NOW ALLOWED IN THE FRONT Councillors
have
voted to allow taxi drivers to carry fares in the front seat. According to the Swindon Advertsier, the authority’s li- censing manager Kathryn Ashton had advised
against
such a change. She said: “The partition is there as a safety measure to keep both passengers and driver secure.” But drivers lobbied to be allowed to carry fares up front. They had asked for a meeting of the bor- ough
council’s
licensing committee to be called after rules were changed in July to prevent it. Drivers said this
threatened their
livelihoods. Andrew Lucas said: “I don’t understand why it’s so much more un- safe to have a pas- senger in the front of my purpose-built, wheelchair accessi- ble seven-seat taxi, than it is for them to travel in an ordinary saloon car for pri- vate hire. “A lot of drivers have bought new vehicles to be wheelchair accessible, costing between £35,000 and £50,000 and we have contracts for private hire work where we must carry people in the front. If we go back on those contracts people will lose their busi-
nesses. We’d like the situation to stay the same, or be im- proved, so we can carry any passenger in the front.” Taxi driver Keith Radway told coun- cillors: “We have been doing this for 22 years - if a vehicle has eight seats, we’d like to carry eight passengers.” Councillors decided
twice against
adjourning for fur- ther consultations, arguing that drivers’ livelihoods were at stake, and were bemused that Swin- don’s
regulations
were much more stringent than neigh- bouring councils, such as Wiltshire.
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE: DRIVERS TO BE CONSULTED ON WAVS
Councillors have
agreed to consult West Dunbarton- shire taxi drivers over the number of WAVs in the area. According to the Dumbarton Reporter, taxis in Clydebank are required to be WAVs - but this isn’t a condition in Dum- barton and the Vale. At a meeting of the
licensing committee last month, a local driver called on the council to reconsid- er the condition, which he said was pricing out drivers in the area, who al- ready faced com- petition from neigh- bouring authorities. He asked the council to meet with drivers, in a bid to strike a
YORK: CALL FOR MORE OFFICERS TO MONITOR TAXIS
Councillors at a City of York Council licensing meeting called for better monitoring of taxi drivers in the city centre - where the trade has raised concerns about the behaviour of out-of- town drivers, espec- ially Uber. According to the York Press, more enforce- ment officers could therefore be em- ployed to monitor taxis in York. The committee heard that the taxi licens- ing account current-
8
ly has a surplus of about £74,500. Matt Boxall,
the
council’s head of public protection, said that a report is being prepared on monitoring the taxi trade in York. But he said the
extra
money in the bud- get cannot legally be used to pay for more enforcement officers. He also praised taxi drivers for their help in reporting inci- dents. He added: “The cost of man- agement support to
the taxi trade has increased in recent years and this level of demand looks set to continue. We’re therefore consider- ing introducing a specific post of taxi licensing manager to address this and bring about further improvements.” Councillors
said
they will also write to the DfT to lobby the Government to review the law that allows private hire journeys to take place anywhere in England.
OCTOBER 2019
balance. Council leaderJon- athan McColl agreed saying that a taxi forum should be called in a bid to see what drivers feel should be done in relation to provision of WAVs in the area. Following the for- um, a report will be brought to commit- tee for consideration.
Winchester drivers have completed a safeguarding course to spot signs of exploitation, domes- tic
abuse and
human trafficking. According to the Hampshire Chroni- cle, Winchester City Council has made it compulsory for all private hire and taxi drivers to attend a
NEW COURSE HELPS DRIVERS SPOT ABUSE new
three-hour
safeguarding course. The first course, held on July 23, was attended by 27 drivers and 12 repre- sentatives from taxi licensing authorities. Designed and run by The Blue Lamp Trust, the police- approved
class-
room-based course supports the Gov-
ernment’s aim to increase awareness among drivers. The course covers identifying children and adults at risk, recognising types of abuse, associated signs and indicators, identifying suspi- cious activities and knowing how and where to report con- cerns.
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