ROUND THE COUNCILS NEWCASTLE:
NEWQUAY: TAXI MARSHALLING SCHEME WITHDRAWN
Newcastle Borough Council is set to end its involvement with a taxi marshalling scheme after ten years. StokeonTrentLive reports that the taxi scheme also in- volved Newcastle and Kidsgrove HC Association and Staffs Police when it started a decade ago. Two marshals were employed, using funds raised through association members, and the scheme enabled the Hassell Street rank to be extended to provide more space for taxis to wait for customers. The council will also
review how the bus station is used at night. PHVs have been able to use the Newcastle town centre bus station from 12am on Friday and Saturday nights to pick up cus- tomers for more than a decade as part of another scheme introduced by the council, which owns the land. A report to the council’s licensing committee said: “At the start of the scheme, ten opera- tors agreed terms with the council to use the bus station and provided book- ing agents to organise journeys.
“The council ar- ranged for police officers to be pre- sent at the bus station to oversee operations, with costs met through a licensing levy. “The number of op- erators using the bus station has now reduced to only one and the council has not commissioned police supervision there since April 2019”. A court deci- sion also clarified that it was not ap- propriate to use a licensing charge in this way so arrange- ments were ‘no longer compliant with the council’s financial regulations’.
POSSIBLE STATION RANK RELOCATION
Cornwall Council has agreed to extend the night-time rank in the centre of Newquay after pub- lic health officials and police request- ed the extension in the hope that it will reduce violent inci- dents at night. The council's licens- ing committee un- animously agreed to extend the rank in Fore Street from 10 spaces to 14 spaces from 9.30pm to 6am. The changes
have been support- ed by local driver associations. A report to the licensing committee stated: “The expec- tation is that taxis will queue from the front of the extend- ed rank, so that customers have a short walk from premises to vehi- cles, which will serve as a crowd dispersal mechanism, reduc- ing the flashpoint.” However, the night- time rank at Gover
Lane is set to be reduced from six to four spaces to incor- porate a disabled parking bay. The alteration was put forward after blue badge
holders
responded to a con- sultation about taxi ranks. A formal notice will now be made detailing the changes and if there are objections the matter will be referred back to the committee to make a final decision.
RENFREWSHIRE: CAB DRIVERS STAY ON THE ROADS
A campaigning councillor has wel- comed support given to taxi drivers so that they can stay on the road during coronavirus restric- tions. According to the Gazette, Tom Begg, who represents Erskine and Inchin- nan for
the
Conservatives, feared drivers who need their vehicles as a source of income would lose out because the MoT inspection bay in Paisley, was closed. However, a driver was offered an urgent slot at the site prior to its offi- cial reopening after raising concerns with the councillor. During lockdown, cabbies could still drive without a MoT certificate while they waited on any urgent appoint- ments but could not
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be guaranteed that insurance compa- nies would pay out in the event of an accident. Cllr Begg contacted officials at Renfrew- shire Council to ask them to look at making urgent ex- ceptions for those taxi drivers who rely on their vehicles for their source of income. He said: “Obviously the Covid-19 pan- demic was going to have an effect but there should have been an easier pro- cess in order to ensure taxi drivers could continue earn- ing their income as quickly as possible. “In this case, I was pleased my con- stituent was offered an urgent slot to receive an updated MoT certificate.” A council spokes- man pointed out that government
guidance did not consider taxi and private hire car test- ing to be essential. He said: “For tests carried out by the council, existing taxis and private hire cars were allowed to continue to operate where their test could not be carried out due to the pandemic. “Prior to the reopen- ing of the testing centre, we also made special ar- rangements to test and licence, where appropriate, new vehicles that had not previously been tested by the council to ensure they can operate as required. “Our testing centre has now reopened and we will contin- ue to work closely with all taxi opera- tors to ensure they are able to work fully and safely dur- ing the pandemic.”
SEPTEMBER 2020
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