Redcar and Cleveland Council's taxi and private hire licensing fees have been hiked following further agreement by councillors.
TeessideLive reports that the fee increases, which range from 5.34% to 38.53%, went out to statutory public consultation with an objection being received on behalf of Middlesbrough-based Boro Taxis describing them as “misconceived”.
The fee increases mean that, for example, renewing a private hire vehicle licence will now cost £303, rather than the previous £265, while hackney carriage renewal goes up from £270 to £309.
A fee paid by private hire operators after five years goes up from £740 to £1,025, while drivers making variations to their vehicles will have to pay £57 to register these with the local authority.
The proposed fees were agreed at a meeting in August and came back to the council’s regulatory committee last month where they were approved for implementation.
A report for councillors said that fees could be set with a view to recovering the costs associated with the issuing and administration of licences.
It also said: “Due to rising costs that the service is experiencing, particularly with local authority pay awards, licence fees will need to be increased to recover those costs and to ensure that the taxi accounts do not fall into a deficit.”
In a letter to the council’s licensing team, David B Wilson, a licensing consultant acting on behalf of Boro Taxis, claimed the time it took to process various licences and permits required in Redcar and Cleveland were generally “50 to 100 per cent more” than those in neighbouring Middlesbrough. The letter also complained about a disproportionate amount of licensing officer time being taken up by “general non-specific activities”.
It added: “If the council had made efficiency savings like those made by other Tees Valley local authorities, fees would not only have been coming down, but the licensing service would be functioning more efficiently for the good of the trade and the public.
“The council is respectfully asked to abandon this misconceived fee increase, review the service to make efficiencies and only then to review fees, hopefully following the lead of other local authorities to reduce fees.”
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Philip Thomson, a member of the council’s regulatory committee, said he had asked for the relevant performance data in comparison with local authorities.
He said he had also attempted to find out what extra revenue would be generated from the increased fees and whether it was justified.
Cllr Thomson said: “It was indicated that without this there may be a deficit in the departmental budget.”
The councillor said he alone on the committee had abstained in response to a motion to increase the fees with remaining members agreeing they could be put in place.
Source: https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/taxi-private-hire-licensing-fees-28099326
A speeding motorist who killed a private hire driver in a head-on crash near Barrhead has been jailed for seven and a half years.
The Glasgow Times reports that Scott Gilligan also had no insurance when he got behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Insignia to collect a prescription at a chemist on June 14, 2021.
The 35-year-old, of Paisley, went onto the wrong side of the road at a bend before hitting a Skoda Octavia driven by Edward Cullen.
This also resulted in Margaret Mansell - who had been out on her daily walk - being flung into a hedge.
Mr Cullen - known as Eddie - tragically passed away in hospital three months after the collision on the A736 Glasgow Road, near Barrhead.
The much-loved 55-year-old had only recently returned to his private hire job having survived a heart attack.
Miss Mansell, 60, meantime was also left badly hurt after being struck.
Gilligan was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow today, Tuesday 14 November.
He had pleaded guilty last month to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving.
Lady Stacey told him he had been witnessed driving "at speed, aggressively and erratically" that day.
The judge added: "Mr Cullen lost his life - there is nothing I can say or do which will take away the grief his family has felt and will continue to feel."
Lady Stacey added Miss Mansell has also "been left feeling not the woman she once was".
Gilligan - who already had previous road traffic convictions - was also banned from driving for a total of nine years and nine months.
The court was told Gilligan was found to have been driving at 69mph in a 40mph zone that day and had been seen trying to overtake a small van before the fatal crash.
A request by the taxi trade in Torridge to allow it more time to go fully electric has been refused.
DevonLive reports that Torridge District Council's licensing committee has decided to stick to its current policy relating to vehicle emissions in a bid to get better infrastructure, such as more EV charging points, in place sooner rather than later.
The Torridge taxi liaison committee had asked the authority to push back compliance times for its 130 licensed taxis to go electric to April 2035 in line with the change in government policy.
They also asked that they be given more time to replace their vehicles with lower emission cars to meet the Euro 6 standard, which is the current standard that all cars sold in the UK have to meet. Only 35% of the taxis in Torridge currently meet that standard.
But councillors decided to keep the 2026 deadline for Euro 6 compliance and 2030 for electric cars adding that this will apply to all vehicles licensed for the first time.
Existing stock will be allowed to continue below the required emission standards until they reach the end of their natural life.
Representatives from the taxi liaison committee said this would be "an acceptable compromise" as most of the taxis on the road at the moment were ten years old and would be off the road in five years' time anyway.
They said that the way the economy was going it was not feasible to change all the vehicles to Euro 6 at this time or even in two years' time.
Until sufficient charge points were in place, having electric vehicles was not workable, and in rural areas with big hills and full loads of passengers, electric taxis would only do 200 miles not the 300 or 400 suggested, said one taxi company.
Firms say that trade has still not returned to pre pandemic levels with the night time economy being particularly badly affected.
The cost of new and second hand vehicles had increased substantially and there had not been sufficient progress in respect of charge-points or the availability of cost effective and suitable electric vehicles to operate in a large rural district.
Committee chairman Chris Bright said the government pushing back its deadline to end sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 was making everyone slip back and the economy too.
"The decision is affecting everyone's opinion of it. If we still aim for that 2030 date there will be more impetus to get more charge points in quicker."
Cllr Anna Dart said electric vehicles were not fit for purpose in Torridge for the majority of residents let along taxi drivers and there must be a place for hybrid vehicles.
"It's absolutely ludicrous, and moving the deadline once, the government is going to do it again if the infrastructure still isn't there. Everyone is seeing sense, the economy isn't up to standard, people cannot afford to do this."
The committee was told that a second-hand hybrid taxi vehicle could cost £45,000 and £60,000 or more new, and an electric one in the region of £80,000.
Source: https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/devon-taxi-drivers-plead-more-8896158
Two taxi drivers were subjected to terrifying knifepoint ordeals by a drug addict desperate for cash.
ChronicleLive reports that Philip Robinson has now been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court.
The first offence happened at around 12.20am, a private hire driver on Whitley Road, Whitley Bay, was waiting to receive a job from his office when Robinson approached him, asking to be taken to Tynemouth. He was told he would have to make a booking through the office.
An upset female then came on the scene and asked for a lift but was told the same as Robinson.
Kevin Wardlaw, prosecuting, said while that interaction was happening: "The defendant climbed through the open front passenger window up to his waist and held a knife to him and threatened to stab him unless he gave him money.
The victim tried to record what was happening on his phone but Robinson withdrew, before repeatedly banging on the window then slashing a tyre of the taxi as the driver made off. The victim was left shaken.
Around an hour later, Robinson approached another taxi outside The Fire Station pub, on Whitley Road, again asking to be taken to Tynemouth, which he agreed to do.
Mr Wardlaw said: "Within a minute, the defendant told him to stop the car because he was feeling sick.
"The defendant opened the door, put his left foot on the road and pretended to be sick before turning to him pointing a knife towards him, demanding he gave him money.
The victim panicked and told him to get out and said he had cameras in his taxi but the defendant replied 'I'm not bothered, if you don't give me money I will hit you."
Robinson was half in and half out of the car so the taxi driver accelerated away, causing him to fall out of the car and he fractured both elbows.
In a victim impact statement, the cabbie said: "The incident made me very nervous. It felt very dangerous."
Robinson was arrested after CCTV was circulated in the press and his family contacted him, telling him to hand himself in, which he did.
He had, in the meantime, dyed his hair to change his appearance and evade police.
The 34-year-old, of Whitley Bay, whose only previous conviction is for drink driving, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted robbery, possessing a bladed article and criminal damage. He was jailed for four years.
Matthew Purves, defending, said Robinson had fallen into drug addiction after the tragedy of losing two babies.
The court heard he behaved out of character and is not usually a violent person. He wrote a letter apologising to the victims and vowing to stay off drugs.
Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/whitley-bay-knifeman-left-fractured-28083943
A consultation has been launched to review the existing taxi zones across North Northants.
Earlier in 2023, North Northamptonshire Council’s Executive approved a consultation to consider whether the four current zones should be retained or replaced with one zone for North Northamptonshire.
When North Northamptonshire Council was formed, for the purposes of taxi licensing, the previous former authority area zones were retained: Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough.
Each zone continues to license its own taxis and drivers as well as operate to the byelaws currently in existence for that former area.
It also means that a driver and vehicle wishing to operate across the whole of North Northamptonshire would need to obtain four licences.
Talks have begun on whether to keep the four zones or replace them with just one zone covering the whole area.
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) said it "made sense" to look at it.
BBC News reports that hackney carriage drivers claim a new enlarged taxi zone would be unworkable because they would struggle to learn all the streets.
Neil Reilly, a taxi driver in Corby since 2013, said he already had "a detailed knowledge of Corby" but warned that "to do the knowledge test of North Northamptonshire" meant having to memorise a "vastly massive" area covering 382 sq miles (989 sq km).
He said: "There's no way that we're going to possibly know all the independent parks, streets, nooks and crannies of East Northants, Wellingborough, Kettering."
He said the geographical knowledge test needed for a licence was "just not going to be passable".
There are 228 hackney carriages licensed in North Northamptonshire, with half working in Corby.
Taxi driver Ian Robb said: "There's absolutely no logic to it, whatsoever.
"You don't have a streets test in a certain zone, expand the size of the zone and then expect everybody to be able to work in those areas. It's just farcical."
David Brackenbury, the council's executive member for growth and regeneration said: "The proposal is to remove the former authority area hackney carriage zones and to replace them with one hackney carriage zone for North Northamptonshire.
"It makes sense to look and consider whether this a viable option, but there are also a variety of elements to consider and to do this - we need the views of residents and stakeholders, including those who use taxis and drivers."
The council said current government guidance advises against the continuation of hackney carriage zones to remove any confusion for customers and to increase efficiency.
The consultation can be found here: https://northnorthants.citizenspace.com/cet/nn-hackey-carriage-de-zoning-and-byelaw-review/
It will run until 24 January.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-67378903
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