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
iCabbi customers set to benefit from iCabbi’s game-changing move to integrate with Google’s Fleet Engine technology, essentially leveling the playing field between taxi fleets and global ridehail players
iCabbi becomes the first ever B2B private hire passenger mobility tech provider to harness Google’s tech stack for its customer fleets.
Now, over 100,000 taxis worldwide will be powered by a combination of iCabbi’s custom dispatch technology and Google’s hyper-intelligent Fleet Engine [Google Maps Mobility Platform].
The iCabbi-Google hybrid offers the most sophisticated dispatch routing optimisation solution on the market.
The landmark move from iCabbi levels the technology playing field between local taxi firms and global ride-hail giants.
iCabbi’s customers will see a significant impact to the performance of their system. This includes precision ETAs, intelligent routing algorithms based on live data inputs from driver and passenger positions, and traffic feeds.
In addition, customers will benefit from a host of new features that will use fleet analytics to effectively manage demand and supply.
The first phase of Google’s integration into iCabbi has already begun. Customer, Amjed Malik (Punjy), part of the Nearby Group, who gave his feedback to the product team on the initial pilot, commented: “It’s incredibly powerful. From what I’ve seen so far this is going to be a gamechanger”.
iCabbi is part of the Mobilize ecosystem, which gathers all the mobility and energy-related services of the Renault Group. The support of its parent has enabled iCabbi to set itself apart from competitors in the taxi dispatch market, providing security and ongoing innovation that cannot be rivaled by other providers.
iCabbi has made a significant financial investment to secure the Google integration for its customers. In addition, investment has been put into expanding iCabbi’s R&D team. Over 35 new product and development roles have already been created in 2023 and a further 20 are planned for 2024.
Michael Tope, CEO of iCabbi, stated: “ICabbi’s Google integration represents a major milestone on our road to delivering new disruptive innovation to our customers.
"This is one of a series of tech innovations iCabbi has developed this year and one that will benefit every single iCabbi customer and all their drivers and passengers.
"We’ve disrupted the market before by putting taxi technology into the cloud, through a SaaS model, and delivering digital transformation en masse.
"This win has the potential to be equally impactful. It’s just one of several game changes that we are delivering with the support of Mobilize MBA.
"This latest move by iCabbi comes on the back of significant market expansion. iCabbi has entered Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, and Spain in 2023, and is set to launch in more new territories in 2024" said Tope.
In November 2022, iCabbi surpassed one billion bookings on its platform.
Two youths have been arrested after a police car window was smashed when it was pelted with a missile during a 48-hour crackdown on anti-social behaviour in Walsall.
According to the Express & Star, officers in the town have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of criminal damage after the patrol car was damaged, in Harden, on Thursday evening, 9 November - just a day after two police vehicles were so badly damaged they had to be taken off the road.
A number of residents and taxi drivers also reported that their motors were struck by bricks and stones in the area on Wednesday night.
West Midlands Police said a 14-year-old boy was also arrested for failing to comply with the 48-hour section 35 dispersal order made after the initial trouble was reported prompting the action.
The order that came into force at 4pm on Thursday covered several estates including Coalpool, Goscote and Harden following incidents the police described as "unacceptable".
The force said missiles including bricks and stones were thrown at passing vehicles from inside Ryecroft Cemetery in Coalpool Lane in Ryecroft resulting in two of its cars suffering smashed windows and dented bodywork. The damaged cars have been taken off the road temporarily, impacting on the force's capabilities.
Police also received reports from taxi drivers and members of the public that their vehicles had also been damaged.
Walsall local policing area’s Inspector Pete Poolton said: "We have arrested two and are set to make more arrests. This behaviour is completely unacceptable and won’t be tolerated. The people involved are causing issues in the local community and we are determined to stop this happening.
"The dispersal order allows us to use extra policing powers, enabling us to disperse anyone engaging in anti-social behaviour and causing a public nuisance.
"We also have increased the amount of officers in the area to offer reassurance to people in the community.
"We need to make a plea to parents to please find out where your child is and what they are doing. We need this behaviour to stop.
"We continue to investigate the crimes associated with the issues being caused in the area and will be taking action against anyone involved."
The 15-year-old has been given police bail while inquiries continue. The 14-year-old was released with conditions including to keep out of the dispersal area.
Taxi drivers across the Fylde Coast are set to receive a briefing note aimed at clearing up confusion over out-of-area private hire vehicles.
Police are appealing to find a taxi driver who may have "vital clues" about the murder of Ryan Passey seven years ago since he was fatally stabbed in a Stourbridge nightclub.
A joint operation by Hull City Council, Wolverhampton Council, and Humberside Police has uncovered a number of safety issues with taxis operating in the city.
French taxi drivers are calling for government compensation after suffering significant revenue losses during the Paris Olympics.
Coventry city centre has introduced a new taxi marshal service aimed at improving safety and efficiency for late-night revellers.
A court heard harrowing details of the moment a drink-driving uninsured motorist killed three people in a 90mph crash.
The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans was amongst the thousands who enjoyed the Battle Proms at Highclere Castle on 3 August.
Swindon residents could be facing a hike in taxi fares from October after councillors gave the green light to a £1 increase in the standard fare minimum charge.
Ricky Harold, a 20-year veteran of the town’s taxi trade, was parked in a lay-by when his vehicle was struck from behind by a black Audi A2.
Chinese automotive giant Geely has deepened its commitment to the UK electric vehicle market with a £120m cash injection into London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC).
North Tyneside Council is facing a backlash over plans to increase taxi fares by 6.3%.
Nazim Asmal preyed on his victims after nights out in Preston and Darwen, driving them to secluded spots before carrying out horrific sexual assaults.
Newcastle is set to see a surge in pink taxis driven by women as part of a new initiative aimed at improving passenger safety.
An unlicensed taxi driver who picked up two vulnerable women in Aberdare has been ordered to pay nearly £1,500 in fines and costs.
Cleethorpes taxi drivers are breathing a sigh of relief after council enforcement officers cracked down on vehicles illegally parked in designated taxi ranks.
A Barry man has avoided jail after launching a drunken attack on a taxi driver who refused him entry to his vehicle.
Jersey’s taxi service is in crisis, with driver numbers plummeting by more than a quarter since 2014, a new report has revealed.
On Wednesday 27 July, more than 300 vulnerable youngsters were taken on an all-expenses paid trip to Southport.
Taxi drivers in the town will be able to charge passengers more following a decision by the borough council on 31 July.
A taxi driver has been sentenced to a community order after admitting causing the death of a pedestrian by driving at excessive speed.