Taxi drivers in Grimsby have won a temporary reprieve from a council plan to lift a cap on the number of hackney carriages.

Councillors on the licensing and community protection committee voted to defer the decision until a survey of demand is carried out.

The move follows concerns raised by the North East Lincolnshire Hackney Carriage Association that the trade is already struggling due to rising costs and falling demand.

Wayne Crouch, chair of the association, described the current situation as "the worst he's ever known".

"I was sat on Freeman Street today for four hours exactly, I took three jobs, I got £13," said Mr Crouch. 

He highlighted the difficulties faced by hackney carriage drivers, who are often unable to fill their shifts.

The council had proposed three changes to the local hackney carriage rules:

• Removing the current cap of 220 hackney carriages
• Requiring all new cabs to be electric or hybrid
• Making all new cabs wheelchair accessible

However, councillors were persuaded to pause the first proposal, citing concerns about the potential impact on existing drivers and the need for a clearer understanding of demand.

The council will now conduct a survey to assess whether there is a genuine need for more taxis in the area. The results of this survey will inform any future decisions on the cap.

Officers also recommended to amend a wheelchair accessible exemption made by councillors in 2013 against advice. Drivers can get medical exemptions off their GP from carrying passengers in wheelchairs.

The 2013 amendment allowed such drivers to change their carriage back from being wheelchair accessible to a saloon. "We feel the link to the vehicles does cause a problem for us," stated Adrian Moody, the council's licensing and environment protection manager. Drivers with the medical exemption had risen from 13 to 75, since 2013, most with lifetime exemptions.

Wheelchair accessible cabs in North East Lincolnshire had plummeted from 70 in 2020 to 43

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The Disclosure and Barring Service is changing its fees, in order to meet the increased operational costs of delivering the DBS safeguarding service.

NEW FEES WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:

Update Service – £16 per year

Basic DBS check – £21.50

Standard DBS check – £21.50

Enhanced DBS check – £49.50

Enhanced DBS check with Barred List(s) – £49.50

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) states it is funded by the fees paid from DBS check customers, and therefore fee changes can be required to meet the increased operational costs of delivering DBS’ safeguarding service.

Each DBS check has its own price that is designed to cover all costs of that specific check, and each check’s fee is scrutinised separately.

DBS confirm that its fees are reviewed on an annual basis, and based on operational and legislative requirements, fees may change and are necessary to maintain the highest quality, to allow DBS to effectively safeguard society.

The new fees have been analysed and approved by the DBS board, Home Office, HM Treasury, and Minister for Safeguarding, and fall well below the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rates.

Dave Lawrie, Director of NPHTA said: “At a time when many of our drivers are already struggling with reduced income, increased overheads, rising costs of vehicles, insurance and licence fees, we now find that even the DBS is putting its fees up, despite it having a mandated minimum income from ALL licensees each year.

“Is it possible that at the same time, they can stop asking for two separate DBS checks for the same drivers to perform the exact same trips - one for licensing and one for school runs ... in effect making double money.... or would that be too much to ask?"

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Two Burntwood men have been prosecuted by Lichfield District Council after licensing officers caught them running a scam private hire operation.

In January 2024 licensing officers stopped a vehicle in Burntwood and, after finding a vulnerable passenger in the back of the car, discovered that both the passenger and the carer who had booked the journey had been duped into believing it was a genuine PHV.

The vehicle was uninsured, and neither the car nor the driver held private hire/vehicle licences. The subsequent investigation discovered that BP Cars, an operator licensed by the council, had knowingly passed jobs to the driver.

In order to protect the public, licensing officers immediately suspended the private hire operator licence held by BP Cars.

The operator was then called before the council’s licensing committee where councillors revoked the licence.

Cabinet Member Councillor Alex Farrell said: “Motivated by greed, two men put an unknown number of local people at risk through their disgraceful conduct.

"This scam saw passengers, including the vulnerable, being taken on journeys in an unlicensed and uninsured vehicle that had not met the safety standards required of a PHV, and by a driver who was unlicensed and had therefore not had criminal record or medical fitness checks.”

On 5 November 2024 both the driver and the operator appeared at Cannock Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to a range of licensing, fraud and driving offences.

The driver, Craig Matthews, 54, from Burntwood was given 6 points on his driving licence and a 12 month conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £26.

The operator, Brian Peasley, 77, also from Burntwood and trading as BP Cars, was also given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £26.

Councillor Farrell added: “Both men now have a criminal record and will not be able to obtain a taxi licence in the UK.

"Taxi drivers and operators hold considerable responsibility and we expect the very highest of standards from them.”

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Thousands of drivers working for ride-hailing and food delivery app Bolt have won a legal claim to be classed as workers in the UK rather than self-employed.

The ruling means drivers could be entitled to holiday pay and the minimum wage, which lawyers said could lead to compensation worth more than £200m.

Bolt said it was reviewing its options, including grounds for appeal.

It pointed out that the findings of the Employment Tribunal were confined to drivers who were not on multiple ride-hailing apps.

About 15,000 current and former Bolt drivers took legal action against the Estonian-headquartered firm at a London employment tribunal.

They argued they were formally workers under British law.

Bolt said it had "always supported" the "choice" of drivers "to remain self-employed independent contractors".

But the tribunal found that "overwhelmingly, the power lies with Bolt".

"There is nothing in the relationship which demands, or even suggests, agency" on the part of the drivers, it said.

The tribunal added that "the supposed contract between the Bolt driver and the passenger is a fiction designed by Bolt – and in particular its lawyers – to defeat the argument that it has an employer/worker relationship with the driver".

The ruling is the latest on the "gig-economy", which is characterised by flexible but unpredictable work patterns.

Leigh Day, the law firm representing the claimants, said the judgment confirmed "gig economy operators cannot continue to falsely classify their workers as independent contractors... to avoid providing the rights those workers are properly entitled to".

It called on Bolt to compensate its clients "without further delay".

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Thirty-year-old Mateusz Sikorski, pleaded guilty to the ‘death by dangerous driving’ of Christopher Boyle, affectionately known as “Mukka”, at a hearing in October.

He was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, November 8.

Mr Boyle sadly died at the scene on September 2 on the A4139 between Tenby and Penally, with the head-on crash occurring shortly before 11pm.

The court heard that Sikorski, who was born in Poland, but had grown up in Italy and then worked around Europe as a chef, was visiting Wales to look for work.

He was driving a friend's BMW towards Penally when he collided head-on with Mr Boyle, who was travelling in the opposite direction in his taxi heading back into Tenby.

Mr Boyle was pronounced dead at 11:32 pm having sustained multiple traumatic injuries.

Sikorski had initially told police officers at the scene that he was on the right side of the road, but later admitted differently, with CCTV footage from nearby Kiln Park service station capturing the footage.

The court heard that the defendant had been driving on the wrong side for at least half a mile before the collision occurred.

A victim impact statement read out in court on behalf of Mr Boyle’s sister, Elizabeth Evans stated: “The loss of Chris has been absolutely devastating.

"His tragic death by no fault of his own has left a void in our lives that can never be filled."

In mitigation, James Hartson argued that Sikorski had accepted full responsibility for Boyle’s death and expressed genuine remorse.

Addressing the court, the judge HH Geraint Walters KC, said: “These cases are amongst the most difficult that courts have to deal with. This wasn’t a momentary crossing onto the other carriageway; you were travelling along there for at least half a mile.”

The judge told the defendant: "It's incumbent on all of us no matter what country we're driving in, that we familiarise ourselves with the rules. Either you had forgotten or were ill equipped.”

Craig Harding of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Mateusz Sikorski's manner of driving posed a major risk to other road users and resulted in fatal consequences.

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