IN THE
NEWS...IN THE NEWS..
EDINBURGH COUNCIL ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY’ AS PETITION LAUNCHED CALLING FOR PHC CAP
Cab drivers in Edin- burgh are calling on the council to cap the number of PH licences given out in order to help reduce congestion
and
harmful emissions. The Edinburgh Eve- ning News reports that the petition from the Edinburgh Cab Section of the Unite union accuses Edinburgh Council of “staggering” hyp- ocrisy as numbers of PH licences given out continue to in- crease. It also calls for an over-provision survey to take place in order to ascertain whether there are too many PH licences.
There are around 2,500 PHVs and 1,500 HCs. Glasgow City Coun- cil was the first local authority to intro- duce a cap on PH licences this April with the aim to ensure work was not spread too thinly across the city. Council bosses in Edinburgh
state
they are waiting for guidelines from the government as to whether they can act. Unite Cab section chairman Scott Blair said the union’s con- cerns were about rising congestion in the city which they believe can only be
tackled effectively if PH numbers are capped. He said: “There have been at least
1,800 cars
added to the streets of Edinburgh which is a huge amount when we are already over-congested. “We do want a cap
but we are not ask- ing the council to set a cap at whatev- er level we want, it has to be indepen- dent but we do want it looked at. The council are wanting to clean up the air and we want to help them with that.
“It is for our health benefit
to keep
emissions down as well. The streets are our office.” Licensing convener Catherine Fullerton said: “All vehicles are tested annually for mechanical road- worthiness, pollu-
tants and safety standards in accor- dance with our licence conditions and emissions and age policy. “To date there has been no means under which a maxi- mum or minimum number of PHVs could be calculated; therefore when this has been estab- lished a decision will
be made.” NPHTA Comment: In all fairness to the financial and physi- cal wellbeing of the existing trade, as well as pollution lev- els which will be affecting the resi- dents and visitors to Edinburgh, a meth- od of conducting an unmet demand sur- vey must be devised pretty sharpish to remedy the over- supply of PHCs there. They don’t realise their good fortune in being able to set private hire levels; how many trade members have clamoured for that privilege south of the Border!
OCTOBER 2019
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