A Harrogate district taxi driver has criticised new taxi fare and licence fees planned for North Yorkshire.
According to the Stray Ferret, North Yorkshire County Council unveiled the new charges as part of its new licensing policy for cabs under the upcoming North Yorkshire Council.
It will see the fixed start fee for a district cabbie increase from £3.60 to £4.00.
However, the night time and Christmas tariffs would remain fixed at £5.40 and £7.20.
Meanwhile, the council is also proposing increasing licence fees for new drivers from the current Harrogate rate of £319 for one-year to £350.
It is also planning a renewal fee increase from £249 to £280 – a hike of 12.5%.
The proposed table of tariffs are due to go before a county council executive on Tuesday 21 March.
Richard Fieldman, who runs a taxi firm in Ripon, said the new tariffs would not help those who work night shifts.
He criticised the policy and added that the licence fees increase of 12.5% was “far too much”.
Mr Fieldman said: “They have put their hand in a lottery bag and thrown it in.”
The move comes as 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.
Cllr Derek Bastiman, executive councillor for open to business, said: “The proposed licence fees ensure we can provide the administration of vehicle and operators’ licences, carry out essential inspections of vehicles so that passengers can continue to travel safely and maintain hackney carriage stands, as well as the enforcement of the licences, without creating an additional cost to the taxpayer.
“With the launch of a single local licensing authority for North Yorkshire, the proposed fees also ensures hackney carriage and private hire licence holders and taxi operators across the county are treated equally, and will hopefully encourage them to continue to invest in and maintain high-quality and safe vehicles.
“The setting of taxi fares is also a statutory duty for the licensing authority and our aim is to strike a balance between setting a fare that is acceptable to the customer and to the taxi driver, and not create confusion by varied fares in the licensed area.
“The proposed fares are the maximum hackney carriage drivers can charge. They can of course charge a lower fare, should they wish to do so.”
Source: https://thestrayferret.co.uk/planned-harrogate-district-taxi-licence-fare-hikes-far-too-much/
A private hire driver who was caught picking passengers up from the street has been banned from working for two weeks.
The Glasgow Times reports that Mr Zafarullah was warned he “could have lost everything” after he was seen ‘pirating’ in the city centre.
Enforcement officers from Glasgow City Council spotted Mr Zafarullah accept two customers, who hadn’t pre-booked, outside The Garage nightclub on Sauchiehall Street.
Councillor Alex Wilson, who chairs the city’s licensing committee, said ‘pirating’ is the “scourge of Glasgow”.
He added: “You should have said to the gentleman and the woman that approached your car: ‘I’m sorry I cannot pick you up, you have to phone or you have to go and get a black cab.’
“If you had an accident, they could have sued you for everything you have got. You could have lost everything. That is the seriousness of pirating in Glasgow.”
An enforcement officer told councillors how one of the people who had approached the driver’s car had confirmed they had not booked in advance.
Mr Zafarullah said he had been “very frustrated” after a night of “no shows.”
He said: “This is by no means an excuse for what I did on the night in question,” adding he had no previous complaints.
Councillor Wilson said: “You were about to pick up passengers and put them into your vehicle, do you know the minute they step into your vehicle your insurance isn’t valid?
“You were willing to take a risk where if you have an accident you would not be insured, and you’re putting your passengers at risk, your own livelihood at risk.”
Councillors decided to suspend the driver for two weeks with immediate effect.
Taxi fares in Warrington could be set to increase.
According to the Warrington Guardian, the taxi and other licensing committee will discuss a report on the hackney carriage table of fares at its meeting on Tuesday 21 March.
At its meeting in July, the licensing committee agreed to adopt the table of fares if no objections were received to the consultation.
A report to the committee says evidence has been sourced from the Automobile Association, which shows average fuel prices as at February 2023. It states that fuel prices continued to increase during 2022 and currently ‘remain stable’ at February prices.
It adds: “Fuel, insurance and vehicle repair costs have steadily increased; impacted by ongoing geo-political events including the continued Ukraine war.
“As of March 2023, the average fare in Warrington (tariff one for a two-mile journey) is £5.70 which, compared to all 350 authorities in the UK in 2022 was ranked at no: 277 but has since dropped back to 320 in the price comparison chart compiled by Private Hire and Taxi Monthly.
“This is mainly owing to the other authorities increasing their fares in 2022.”
The report highlights the details of a seven per cent fare increase across all tariffs – which the committee is being recommended to approve.
It also highlights five per cent and ten per cent increases for ‘comparisons sake’.
The report adds: “There are no additional financial implications for the council contained within this report.
“The proposed increases are required to better reflect the true cost of providing a service to the trade’s customers and in order to continue to maintain a reasonable standard of living.”
Source: https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/23395067.taxi-fares-set-increase/
After protests from taxi drivers across Cambridge about the installation of mandatory CCTV in their taxis, Cambridge City Council has said they are considering pushing back the deadline.
Drivers gathered outside South Cambridgeshire District Council's headquarters in Cambourne on Wednesday, March 15, to protest the new requirement.
The Cambridge News reports that in an announcement Cambridge City Council said taxi driver "concerns" have led them to consider pushing back the date that taxi drivers in Cambridge will have to install new CCTV devices in their vehicles, from April to September, 2023.
A spokesperson said: “Following concerns from the taxi trade about the timescales for implementation, a decision will be made at Monday’s Licensing Committee on recommendations to postpone the need to install CCTV until September.”
From April 2023, all taxi drivers applying to Cambridge City Council for a licence will be required to have CCTV installed in their vehicles. Some taxi drivers in the city have already said they will consider taking legal action against plans for CCTV in their cars.
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire Council are responsible for licensing all hackney carriage, private hire and dual drivers, as well as taxi proprietors and operators in Cambridge.
A spokesperson for Cambridge City Council added: “Installing CCTV in taxis and private hire vehicles licensed in Cambridge will be a boost to safety for both customers and drivers.
“As taxi licensing authority, the council has a number of objectives, including the safety and protection of the public, vehicle safety, prevention of crime and protection of drivers – all of which will help to be met by the installation of CCTV in the vehicles it licenses.
Introducing CCTV for all licensed vehicles will also ensure there is supporting evidence for any criminal or enforcement investigations into customers’ or drivers’ actions or behaviour while the vehicles are operational."
Ahmed Karaahmed, Chairman of Cambridge City Licenced Taxis, said that with one CCTV supplier in Cambridge and more than a thousand taxis to kit out, the April deadline was "never realistic".
He said: “A week to go there would will be hundreds of vehicles that will need CCTV to be implemented.
"There is only one provider in Cambridge who is able to do that, and they have written to Panther taxis to say they don’t have enough cameras to fit into the taxis.
Most cameras are Chinese make and model, there are government guidelines saying that no UK company should be using Chinese make and model of CCTV in sensitive public areas.”
According to a survey conducted by the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner on February 15 2023, police forces in the UK are "shot through" with Chinese camera technology.
Concerns that drivers licensed by Wolverhampton Council and other local authorities operating in Bolton were raised by town hall chiefs.
Bolton Council bosses say they have no way of tracing the number of private hire drivers working in the town who got their licences from other local authorities.
According to The Bolton News, Deputy Council leader Hilary Fairclough urged drivers to request a driver who is registered in the borough to ensure their safety.
Different local authorities set varying minimum licensing standards for a driver to be registerd to operate.
And Cllr Fairclough has also said she has raised the issue of the deregulation with Levelling Up Secretary of State Michael Gove.
The issue was discussed at a full meeting of the council.
Concerns have been raised in particular about the number of drivers coming from the Wolverhampton area.
Cllr Mohammed Ayub said the differing minimum licensing standards would be undermined by the number of out of town drivers.
He said: “Out of town licences may not be regulated to the same standard that Bolton expects.
“On the one hand we are raising the standards of our licence holders, on the flip side many drivers are going elsewhere to get the licence and ply their trade in Bolton.”
He requested from the council administration information as to how many out of town drivers were operating in Bolton.
Cllr Fairclough said: “I abhor the fact we have to allow people registered in Wolverhampton and other places to come and work here it is something that was taken up with Michael Gove last week.
“It was made very clear to him we are not happy with that sort of deregulation and the reasons why we felt it was important our taxi drivers were registered in Bolton, adhered to Bolton rules and worked in Bolton.
“I really believe that we should have a standard that is high for everybody’s safety, for the taxi drivers and for the passengers.
“They can come in, we don’t like it, my advice to be honest would be to anybody booking a taxi is to say to the operator I want one that is registered in Bolton.
“Deregulation started in 2015 that allows private hire drivers to move around, it wasn’t the case prior to that, I don’t agree with that, I will continue to campaign for that to change.
“Regarding the drivers from Wolverhampton and others outside of area we have no way of knowing as they don’t have to register with us.”
Cllr Steve Evans, City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment and climate change, said: “City of Wolverhampton Council has invested heavily in digital technology which enables us to thoroughly check driver and vehicle details.
"We have a high level of licensing standards and are believed to be the first in the country to have introduced daily enhanced DBS checks on all of our drivers.
"We have also introduced technology that checks applicants right to work, similar to the systems found at airports with facial recognition, and we check every new applicant against the National Register for Revocations, Refusals and Suspensions.
"Our investments in digital systems have made savings and allow us to undertake compliance operations across the country every week, including on weekend evenings.
"We have always been at the forefront of implementing stringent taxi licensing standards and we will continue to use the latest technology to ensure both public and passenger safety.”
Source: https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/23392978.bolton-taxis-not-always-licensed-bolton-council/
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