Andy Peters Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk
Has City of Wolverhampton Council become the new Dr Frankenstein that has created an uncontrollable monster? Well, it certainly seems like it with a lot of the trade up in arms around the country like villagers battling against the monster as it wreaks havoc wherever it goes.
Yes, Wolverhampton council continues to make trade headlines with its slow decline (in my opinion) of standards which is quite shocking for anyone in the trade down here, and more than likely members of the trade in other areas as well.
At this point I should mention the reason why, as a Brighton & Hove cab driver being some 200 miles away from Wolverhampton, its chipping away of standards bothers me so much. Well, we had a Wolverhampton driver contact us at the owner/driver company of which I’m a member, asking if he could get work from us as he “…once lived in Brighton…”.
To be fair I did answer him with total respect giving him the required information:
“To work with us you need to apply to Brighton & Hove Council to gain a PH driver licence and also have a suitable PH car that isn’t white. Also, you must have a fitted meter with the council tariff and council-controlled CCTV fitted (approximately £600).
“To gain a Brighton & Hove driver (dual – hackney and PH) licence you need to undertake an extensive knowledge test of streets, covering around 4,000 roads from Portslade to Saltdean, that is conducted by a Licensing Officer gaining a 70% pass. We run an in-house knowledge course that needs regular attendance at our office.
“You will need to have a Group 2 Medical test and have an Enhanced DBS certificate as well as having to undertake a CSE course. Additionally, a Level 2 BTEC Introduction to the ‘Role of the Professional Taxi and Private Hire Driver’ is required. You will not be able to license any vehicle that is currently licensed by another authority.”
I never heard from him again! 58
Are these requirements excessive? We don’t think so, but of course it’s much easier to get a licence from over the boundary in sleepy Lewes or Chichester and then predominately work here. Although I am pleased to say that more Lewes drivers are now looking to be Brighton & Hove licensed… but I digress.
Did you read the report of the areas that have the highest number of private hire vehicle per capita. Guess which area got the gold award?
“Private hire specialist Zego analysed public data from the Department for Transport to determine the total number of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) per 1,000 people in each city across England and Wales. These results were then ranked from highest to lowest to see which city had the most and least licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people. Wolverhampton ranked first in the study, with 85.3 licensed taxis and PHVs per 1,000 people. With a population of 263,700 residents, this is 580% more than the proportion of licensed taxis and PHVs for the city in second place. Whilst there are 0.6 licensed taxis per 1,000 people in Wolverhampton, the total figure is largely from licensed PHVs in the city, with a huge 84.7 licensed PHVs per 1,000 people.”
This of course is not really news to most of us in the trade, but it does put the mass issuing of private hire licenses into perspective. Now, you would think that with 84.7 licensed vehicles per 1,000 people you would pretty much have a car waiting on the corner of most Wolverhampton streets and available for bookings within seconds.
However, the reality is that the huge majority of those cars are indeed waiting on street corners, but hundreds of miles away from Wolverhampton under POAW (Permanently Out of Area Working). This is to the extent that the Wolves Enforcement Team now has to engage in jolly boys and girls outings to give the impression they are still in control of their army of private hire drivers/ vehicles that have invaded other licensing authorities. Read the full report here:
tinyurl.com/phv-numbers
Astonishingly, Wolverhampton council has suddenly decided that door signs on PHVs are now ‘dangerous’ because in doing so there are going to be dubious people masquerading as bogus private hire drivers with fake door signs. You really can’t make it up!
SEPTEMBER 2024 PHTM
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