Cabbies in South Tyneside have complained that they “can’t afford” to journey into Newcastle after being excluded from financial help from the new Clean Air Zone.
The new city centre charging zone has been in operation for more than a month, putting tolls on some high-polluting vehicles in a bid to slash illegal levels of emissions. Older taxis that do not meet the CAZ’s environmental standards face daily £12.50 fees to come into or through Newcastle city centre.
But ChronicleLive reports that while drivers licensed in Newcastle, Gateshead, and North Tyneside have been offered the chance to apply for grants to help upgrade to a cleaner vehicle and to get a discounted £50-a-week charge instead, there is no such support for taxi companies outside those three areas. That has become a major source of frustration for drivers in places like South Shields, Jarrow, and Hebburn, who are finding it far more costly to take passengers into the city.
Del Thoburn, owner of South Shields-based Del’s Taxis, said: “We are getting no help at all and I am taking the hit because I don’t want to pass the cost on to the customers.
"I used to have six big buses but now I have gone down to just two and this is one of the reasons. There is no help with the CAZ if you don’t live in Newcastle, Gateshead, or North Tyneside. We should be treated the same as them.”
Council bosses in charge of the CAZ say they only have “limited” funding from the Government and have had to target the financial support at people likely to be most heavily affected by the new restrictions – but have not ruled out widening their offers to other areas in future.
After concerns about the impact on South Tyneside were raised at the North East Joint Transport Committee recently, a spokesperson for South Tyneside Taxis Ltd told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have drivers here who don’t want to take a job in Newcastle now. They can’t afford to pay the £12.50 and you can’t charge the customer for it because, at the end of the day, they just won’t want to go to Newcastle if it costs them £12.50 extra.
“If you’re picking them up around midnight, it can be £25 extra because it goes over two days. To me, it is all wrong and it is going to have an impact on the centre of Newcastle. The other boroughs are getting help, but we aren’t.”
A spokesperson for the Newcastle and Gateshead Clean Air Zone said: “The funding for financial support for those affected by CAZ charges is provided by government and it is limited. We are therefore targeting this funding towards those who are more likely to be affected – in particular those who have no choice but to operate within the zone and those who are more likely to make regular journeys into the zone.
“This is aimed at ensuring support is given to those who need it most but, once these applications have been dealt with and subject to funding availability, we will look at inviting grant applications from other areas.”
The introduction of the CAZ, which has been in the works for years, means that drivers of older buses, taxis, lorries, and coaches that do not meet certain environmental standards must pay daily tolls of either £50 or £12.50 to come into or through the city centre. There are also £12.50 charges planned for older vans from this July, but all private cars are exempt.
The charging zone has been imposed in response to a Government order to cut emissions levels in certain hotspots, with poor air quality having been linked to more than 300 deaths on Tyneside every year.
Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/clean-air-zone-taxi-drivers-26386499#
An Uber driver was left furious after he was fined £100 for pulling over to speak to a parking attendant.
Gerald Stenberg, from Formby, collects passengers from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) every day.
The 70-year-old, who has been a private hire driver for 20 years, was hit with a fine after being told he had stopped in a prohibited zone.
However, he said this was just a brief stop in order to speak to an attendant about ongoing issues he and other drivers had been having with JLA's free car park.
After the Liverpool Echo raised this with the airport, they have now asked for his fine to be waived.
Gerald told the Echo that he and other taxi drivers wait in the airport's free car park until flights come in, when they then head to the pick-up area to collect passengers.
Drivers are entitled to 40 minutes of free parking before they are charged at the car park, which is a five- to ten-minute walk from the terminal.
However, he said there had been confusion regarding that car park for months.
He said the car park's barriers have not always been in use since Christmas and tickets have not always been issued to drivers. Gerald added a sign saying 'Free Passage' has been on display near the entrance.
Gerald said this has led drivers to be unsure about how long they can stay in the car park, while the lack of tickets mean they have been left without a way to pay.
Gerald said one of his colleagues was recently stopped on his way out of the car park and told to pay. The driver explained the car park wasn't issuing tickets, so he had no way to pay, but the attendant argued the contrary.
Gerald said: "About a week after my mate had to pay, I was just coming out of the free car park. I happened to see the parking camera van so I thought I'd go over to ask what was happening with the car parks.
"I pulled up, spoke to the lady in the van and her advice was 'go in for free but don't stay longer than 40 minutes because you never know when they're going to fix it'. I said they haven't put any signs up and it says 'free passage'.
"She said that doesn't mean anything. I said 'they haven't got a sign up there, it's unclear. It just says free passage and it's not issuing tickets'.
"We had that brief conversation, I said it wasn't good enough and then I drove away. Next thing I know, I've got this charge notice to pay £100 or £60 if I pay within a certain time."
The document issuing Gerald's fine states it was for: "Stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited". It also includes CCTV images of Gerald's car pulled up next to what appears to be a parking van, with his window down.
Gerald described the fine as "ruthless" and added: "They need better signage. I park in the free car park every day and I wanted to know what was going on".
A JLA spokesperson said: "It would appear that this driver hasn’t appealed his Parking Charge Notice, so this is the first time that either VCS, the company who police the airport roads or ourselves have been made aware of the particular circumstances surrounding the issuing of this PCN.
"It appears that on this occasion, since this driver stopped on a restricted road to briefly query a parking issue, he should not have been issued with a PCN by VCS and as a consequence we have requested that this be waived."
Source: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/uber-driver-fuming-hes-fined-26368024
Senior county councillors have backed creating a single taxi zone for North Yorkshire, despite concern from local drivers.
According to the Stray Ferret, North Yorkshire County Council will introduce a single hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy from the spring.
The existing seven district councils, including Harrogate, currently have their own hackney carriage and private hire licensing policies.
However, under the new policy, drivers will be able to operate in any area of the county.
At an recent executive meeting, senior county councillors approved the move towards a single licensing policy.
Councillors also backed a move to carry out a review of how it could increase the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles within the county.
Cllr Simon Myers, executive councillor for growth at the authority, told the meeting: “What North Yorkshire wants to have is the best, safest and most accessible taxi service for its residents.
“I recognise, as the trade points out to us, that they are an essential part of accessible travel in a rural county.”
Meanwhile, Cllr David Chance, executive councillor for corporate services, proposed waiving licence fees for new wheelchair-accessible vehicles and for renewals in order to incentivise more drivers to come forward.
He said: “Given that we wish to demonstrate the council’s commitment to increasing the number of wheelchair accessible vehicles in both the short and longer term, I’m going to suggest that we consider waiving the licence fee for new wheelchair accessible vehicles and relicensed wheelchair accessible vehicles in the lead up to finalising our policy on the matter.
“That would be done through the inclusive service plan. This would incentivise the retention of existing wheelchair accessible vehicles by the trade, but also offer an immediate incentive to those considering the purchase of new vehicles.”
However, the policy has come under criticism from local drivers who said the move was not supported by the trade during a consultation.
Fifty-two per cent of respondents disagreed with the key proposal of introducing a single zone for North Yorkshire, which would allow cabbies to operate across the county rather than only in their districts. However, the idea still looks set to go ahead.
Richard Fieldman, who owns Ripon firm A1 Cars and runs a Facebook group that includes 52 taxi drivers in Ripon and Harrogate, said: “Making it one zone will mean that at peak times drivers will target hotspots, such as Harrogate on a Saturday night, and leave rural areas with no taxis.
"It’s common sense that people will drive to maximise their earning potential.
“It will be a disaster for us and a disaster for people who live in quieter areas because they won’t be able to get a taxi at busy times.
“The same policy has been tried in other areas and it just leads to some streets being swamped with taxis so it’s bad for other road users as well.”
Source: https://thestrayferret.co.uk/local-cabbies-predict-disaster-as-new-single-taxi-zone-created/
A taxi driver from Stratford has been fined for smoking at the wheel of their cab.
The Stratford Observer reports that licensing officers from Stratford District Council saw the driver, who has not been named, in possession of a lit cigarette, while driving a black cab.
Officers issued the Fixed Penalty Notice of £50, under the Health Act 2006, to the licensed driver.
SDC community safety spokesman Coun Christopher Kettle said: “The legislation to prevent smoking in smoke-free places was introduced to protect members of the public from the harmful effects of second-hand cigarette smoke.
“It is illegal to smoke in any commercial vehicle carrying members of the public, including taxis and private hire vehicles.
"The legislation requires all vehicles used for public transport to be smoke-free at all times which includes when they do not have passengers.
"Equally taxi drivers have a greater responsibility in that they need to protect the public health of their passengers.”
Following the incident, the driver was reminded of his legal responsibility to ensure his vehicle was smoke free and that smoking inside any licensed vehicle would not be tolerated.
The driver paid the fine immediately.
Source: https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/news/taxi-driver-fined-for-smoking-in-cab/
Wellingborough MP Peter Bone has hit out at "bizarre" plans from West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to impose new policies on the area's taxi drivers.
NorthantsLive reports that the plans, which include the implementation of a dress code, were called "nonsense" by the veteran Conservative MP as he spoke on the Jeremy Vine show on Wednesday morning, March 1.
The draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy (https://bit.ly/3YbJaiQ) from WNC would introduce a penalty point system where drivers would face losing their licence if for not complying with the drivers' dress code or not arriving for a booking on time.
WNC insists the proposals are to keep passengers safe and has announced that they would be extending the public consultation on the plans.
Mr Bone's comments come almost a week after over 100 taxi drivers staged a protest outside Northampton's guildhall in which some called the proposals "draconian" and "racist".
WNC announced the draft policy last month, which it said aimed to "maintain vital safety standards." New proposals include strengthening the "fit and proper person" test and tests on drivers' spoken English.
Drivers would get points for breaking certain guidelines. These include two points for failure to keep vehicle reasonably clean or failing to search vehicle after journey and two points for not being "clean and respectable in their dress."
The proposals would also require foreign nationals who have stayed in another country for more than three months to obtain a 'certificate of good conduct' from their relevant embassy of the country. This also applies to UK citizens if they have lived outside the country for more than three months at a time.
Members of the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ACDU) organised a rally through Northampton town centre last Friday, February 24. Those at the march said they found the proposals "racist and misguided".
Speaking on Channel 5's Jeremy Vine show, Mr Bone said he "would be on the protests with the taxi drivers outside the Guildhall".
He said: "It seems as though they're going to give you a number of points if you don't dress properly and I don't know what dressing properly means. It is most bizarre."
"I just want to know that the taxi driver is going to get me from A to B safely, and I don't care what they wear. These taxi drivers are superb, I've never had any problem with any of them." This seems a bit of a nonsense"
Host Jeremy Vine then asked the MP "Why can't they wear a tie? You're wearing one." Mr Bone responded: "I have to wear the uniform, don't I? I have to wear this."
The panel erupted into laughter when Jeremy said: "A person in a suit, if he's a man, is going to be a better driver than a person in shorts, and there's no question about that."
WNC announced on 2 March that is was extending the public consultation (https://bit.ly/3EU54QZ) period from March 26 to to Sunday 23 April, "to allow people more time to fully review it and consider their views."
Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement, and Regulatory Services on West Northamptonshire Council, said: “We have been encouraged by the high level of engagement and feedback we have already received as a result of this public consultation.
“A number of people have asked that we extend the consultation period to enable further time for residents, businesses and professional drivers to fully review the policy and have their say.
"We want to hear everyone’s views, so we are more than happy to extend the consultation period by another four weeks to allow people sufficient time to respond.”
Once the consultation closes, all responses will be evaluated and considered. The evaluation will then be presented along with the policy to WNC’s Licensing Committee for consideration.
Taxi passengers in Glasgow are facing a hefty fare hike as plans to increase prices by almost 10% have been given the green light.
Reading Council licensing officers recently partnered with The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association for a special test purchasing exercise.
Up to eleven taxi drivers could have their licences suspended after failing to attend mandatory disability awareness training, a council report has revealed.
A council report proposes increasing charges to keep up with soaring vehicle expenses, including fuel, maintenance, and purchase prices.
Police targeting anti-social behaviour made a significant drug bust after stopping a taxi in the city.
A week-long trial of new AI cameras on the A1(M) near Newton Aycliffe has exposed a shocking scale of phone use and seatbelt offences.
A former paratrooper turned pet taxi driver is in the running for an Animal Star Award for his work in Wakefield and Pontefract.
Tariq Rehman, 75, from Stechford, had his licence removed by Solihull Council in November last year following a complaint from a passenger.
A taxi firm boss has branded the criminal justice system "broken" after new figures revealed almost a third of offenders in the town reoffended within a year.
Dramatic CCTV footage has captured the moment a hooded figure set a taxi alight on a residential driveway.
A Drongan taxi driver has been convicted of sexually assaulting a female passenger after offering to waive her fare in exchange for sex.
Artur Nowostawski has been jailed for six years and nine months after he attacked a taxi driver earlier this year.
Taxi drivers in the city are facing significant financial losses after a series of electric vehicle charging point failures left them unable to operate.
Police are appealing for help to trace a man who disappeared after getting into a taxi bound for the Otley area of Leeds.
The company’s operator licence includes a condition ordering all drivers to undergo the same training as those from other companies.
Police have stopped a private hire driver who was driving the wrong way on the M1 close to Junction 8 at Hemel Hempstead.
Newcastle City Council is set to introduce strict new measures to tackle illegal and inconsiderate parking near Newcastle International Airport.
West Mercia Police is appealing for information following a rape that took place in Malvern's Priory Park early on Sunday, August 4th.
Glasgow taxi users could be facing a near-10% fare increase and extended night-time charges.
At least 14 cars have been damaged since June, with drivers suffering financial loss and emotional distress.