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Posted on the 24th March 2025 in PHTM News
HEREFORDSHIRE TAXI DRIVERS ACCUSED OF CHARGING DOUBLE FOR COUNCIL SCHOOL CONTRACTS
Herefordshire taxi drivers are reportedly earning exorbitant sums from council school transport contracts, leading to claims they are neglecting other fares and leaving residents without nighttime taxi services.
The allegations come after it was revealed Herefordshire Council spent nearly £6 million on school contracts in the last financial year.
John Jones, former Hereford Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Association, claims that: “It used to be that if you took on these regular contracts, they would be at below meter rate,” he said, “but now such contracts are often at double the equivalent rate on the meter.”
He attributes this surge in pricing to a supply and demand imbalance, exacerbated by stringent council requirements and the lingering effects of the pandemic.
"I know of one car that makes a thousand pounds a week going to and from Leominster, when the rate should be less than half that," Jones stated. "A lot of those drivers then take the rest of the day off, and won’t come out at night."
Jones further alleges that some registered operators are "farming out" council contracts, taking a cut before passing them on to other drivers.
Online advertisements for driver positions, promising £800 a week, further illustrate the lucrative nature of these contracts, a figure "which you won’t earn from regular taxi work," according to Jones.
"So Herefordshire people are losing out twice over – by paying over the odds and not being able to get a taxi when they need one," he said.
Herefordshire Council has responded by announcing an "external review of our home to school transport services," which will "explore commissioning and contracting arrangements."
“The outcomes of this will help to inform the development of any future plans.”
Figures released by the council show that in the financial year to last April, over £5.8 million was spent on taxi services for 496 pupils, with over half of those pupils having special educational needs and disabilities.
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