The cost of running a Wolverhampton-licensed taxi is changing as adjustments are made to fees.
Wolverhampton Council has made an announcement under the LGMPA 1976 S70 around the licence fees for hackney carriages, private hire vehicles and operator licence fees.
The Express and Star reports that the proposed fees will be set for either one year or five years and have seen drops in fees from the 2022/2023 financial year, but also a rise for testing.
For large private hire operators, which are described as organisations having more than four vehicles, the initial fee for one year would be £1,000, down from £1,077.
An annual renewal would be £750, down from £785 and a five-year renewal of £3,000, down from £3,140.
Small private hire operators, which have four vehicles or less, will also have an initial fee for one year of £1,000, down from £1,077.
They would have an annual renewal of £150 and a five-year renewal of £500, which remain the same from the previous year.
For hackney carriage drivers, a one-year fee for vehicles up to 16-years-old will be £125, down from £135, while a fast track for new licences or a renewal will be £180.
An exceptional 'condition assessment', which is required for vehicles aged older than 16, will be £120, with an assessment required every six months, which remain the same.
For private hire drivers, a one-year fee for vehicles up to 10-years-old will be £125, down from £135, while vehicles aged older than 10 and under 12-years-old will have a six-month fee of £125, with a fast track fee for new licences or renewals being £180, which remains the same.
Finally, the fee for council approved VOSA registered garages for hackney carriage and private hire vehicle testing facilities will be set at £200, a rise of £50 from the previous year.
Wolverhampton Council has publicised the changes through the public notices as part its legal requirement.
It says a copy of the notice can be inspected without payment during normal office hours at the Licensing Service at Wolverhampton Civic Centre and said that any objections to the proposed variations should be made in writing or via email by February 28.
A Glasgow taxi boss has blasted the city's low emission zone (LEZ) as the deadline for black cab compliancew looms closer.
According to the Scottish Daily Express, Brian O'Hara said he has managed to get only 12 vehicles to comply with LEZ rules.
His firm, Thistle Taxis, once had 100 cabs but that number is now down to 30.
Speaking at Glasgow City Council's licensing and regulatory committee on Friday 2 February, Mr O'Hara said: "It's a struggle. We are fighting our way through.
"It is a tough time but we are trying to keep going."
Under the LEZ rules, older petrol and diesel vehicles were banned from the city centre from June 1, 2023. However, taxi operators could apply for a 12-month exemption to May 31, 2024 to give them more time to pay for a new vehicle or retrofit their existing cab.
More than 600 black cabs were granted an exemption from 1,383 registered in the city, with a report last September revealing that only 118 were waiting to be retrofitted.
This was expected to take several years, as many of the cabs were having to be sent down to a garage in Chester for the work to be carried out.
Mr O'Hara said that Covid and the lockdowns had also impacted the trade and the ability to get credit but added: "We are getting somewhere now."
He also believes some taxi drivers are having to quit the trade.
Responding to his determination to keep going, committee chair councillor Alex Wilson, of the SNP – the same party that introduced the LEZ – said: "I commend you on that."
Around £3million of retrofit Scottish Government funding has been made available to support taxi operators get their vehicles ready, although there have been complaints about the system.
Diesel vehicles registered after September 2015, petrol vehicles registered from 2006 onwards and buses, coaches and HGVS registered from January 2013 will meet the required LEZ standards.
Speaking last September, Unite Glasgow (Hackney) Taxi Branch secretary, Steven Grant, warned the LEZ was creating an existential crisis for black cabs in the city.
Mr Grant said: "Despite the council granting a one-year exemption for retrofitting cabs, it is clear that the LEZ is still going to force hundreds of cabs off the road by June next year."
Source: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/glasgow-taxi-boss-says-only-32049176
A taxi dashcam recorded the fatal shooting of a taxi driver in the western ?zmir province by a passenger he was carrying, leading to outrage and raising concerns about safety in the streets.
Turkish Minute reports that taxi driver O?uz Erge, 44, a married father of two, was sadly severely injured when he was shot three times at around 3:30 a.m. on January 31 by 19-year-old Delil Aysal, the lone passenger in the taxi, who was wearing a hood and a mask.
Erge later died at ?zmir Atatürk Teaching and Research Hospital. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced Erge’s death on X on Thursday as the camera footage showing the shooting was widely circulated on social media.
“The video footage made publicly available is deeply distressing due to the brutal response to kindness. We don’t doubt that the perpetrator will get the punishment he deserves,” the minister said.
In the video footage the driver is heard telling Aysal that he picked him up at a late hour despite his suspicious appearance, so that he wouldn’t have to wait in the cold any longer.
At the end of the trip, Erge is heard telling Aysal how much the fare is.
Aysal takes a gun from his pocket and fires three shots from behind the driver. Later, he is heard slapping the driver and saying “You shouldn’t trust some people.” The attacker then collects bullet casings and searches the driver’s pockets in an apparent attempt to find money.
According to Turkish media reports, Aysal was apprehended in the Buca district. Following the procedures at the police station, the suspect was referred to the court and subsequently arrested.
Erge’s body was taken from the hospital to the ?zmir Institute of Forensic Medicine morgue. Two hundred fifty taxis followed the vehicle along the road, protesting the incident by honking their horns.
The killing of the driver caused outrage on social media, with many users condemning the incident and taxi drivers protesting the lack of personal safety during work and others complaining about lack of safety in the streets.
“The killer not only took the life of [the driver] but also claimed the lives of citizens who will now shiver in the cold. Truly despicable,” journalist Erk Acarer said.
This horrifying event serves as a stark reminder of the dangers faced by individuals working in the transportation industry and the need for continued vigilance and safety measures to protect taxi drivers and others in similar professions.
A taxi driver was subjected to racist comments during a “torrent of abuse” after he refused to take a passenger, a court has heard.
The male driver was branded a sexual abuser and a foreigner during a heated dispute when he asked a female passenger to get out of his taxi after being called to Heartsease in Norwich.
Appearing at Norwich Magistrates’ Court, Katie Aldus, 19, of Horsford, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated abuse and criminal damage over the incident in August 2022.
The court was told she had been helping a friend into the taxi when a dispute over whether she would be safe saw her abuse the driver and kick his taxi damaging its door.
Rima Begum, prosecuting, said the driver had never experienced this type of racism before and that it had made him think whether moving to Norwich from London four years ago had been the right decision.
In a victim statement read in court, he said: “The incident has made me feel quite angry and disappointed.
“The girl was shouting at me about another taxi driver which had nothing to do with me and she kept using the word foreigner and insinuating that we were all rapists.
“She didn’t know me and I found it offensive that she was calling me an abuser and a foreigner.”
The court was told Aldus had previously been the victim in a separate incident involving another taxi driver and that “this was still relatively raw”.
“It was a mistake to make these comments she now accepts,” said her defence solicitor.
Ordering she pay the taxi driver £1,450 compensation, District Judge Sundeep Pankhania said she had targeted her “torrent of abuse” against “foreigners", not taxi drivers more generally.
“This was absolutely disgraceful and when people talk to taxi drivers, or other people who are serving the public, in this way they deserve the courts to come down hard on them,” he added.
A disabled man in Wiltshire says he was refused a taxi service because of his assistance dog, despite having collapsed on the pavement from exhaustion.
According to the Swindon Advertiser, 46-year-old Edward Jones described the events as “devastating and humiliating” after he was ignored by taxi drivers outside Chippenham railway station on two occasions.
Mr Jones recently moved from London to Chippenham and is registered disabled due to a long-term chronic illness which greatly affects his mobility.
On November 27, 2023, Mr Jones was returning from a weekend away when, upon exiting Chippenham railway station, he collapsed on his way to the taxi rank outside.
He was unable to get up and began calling over to the taxis, waving his walking stick in the air for help.
He was told by the taxi driver closest to him that he would not take him because he was with a dog.
Mr Jones’ assistance dog, George, is a two-year-old Teacup Shih Tzu, who helps him with his mental health.
He explained: “The only thing that stops me breaking is being with my boy and getting out in fresh air. He's saved my life, because he makes me get out every day.
Referring to the incident, Mr Jones said: “Is it deemed reasonable - me on the floor and not being able to get up for 30 minutes, a grown-arse man crying?
“I was bawling because I was so tired. I honestly thought I'm not going to be able to get home.”
Mr Jones explains he was ignored by “at least eight taxis” for what “felt like well over half an hour”, before three members of the public helped him.
He said the women attempted to reason with the taxi drivers but were unsuccessful and he was eventually driven home by one of the members of the public.
He said: “If she hadn't have done that, I honestly don't know how I would have got home."
Mr Jones described the pain he was experiencing in his legs from fatigue as a “burning from the inside out.”
But he said he was put through the same ordeal again a month later on December 29.
Upon arrival at Chippenham railway station with bis nieces and being in a similar state of exhaustion, he says two taxi drivers refused to take him, despite him struggling to walk, again claiming because he had the dog.
According to Mr Jones, explaining that George was an assistance dog made no difference.
He said he had to rely on his nieces to help him onto a bus.
Mr Jones has since been too worried to attempt similar journeys and describes feeling trapped and isolated in a new town.
He said: “For a human being to scoff and laugh at a disabled person and say, ‘we don't have to take you anywhere’, especially when they are collapsed on the floor, I'm like, well, where the hell have I moved to?”
When asked to comment, Great Western Railway said: "It is really disappointing to hear of Mr Jones’ experience at one of our stations.
"We would encourage anyone with further details to report the matter to the licensing authority or provide us with the driver's details so we can consider an appropriate course of action."
Councillor Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for transport, at Wiltshire Council said: “We are sorry to hear about this incident.
“We take this matter very seriously and are investigating this specific complaint.”
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.
A joint operation by council, police, and DVSA officials has seen three taxis taken off the road in Oldham due to safety concerns.
Taxi drivers licensed by Mid Sussex could soon be forced to accept card payments, following a surge in complaints about cash-only services.
Two men have avoided immediate jail time after a high-speed race left a taxi driver with serious injuries.
BYD, manufacturer of new energy vehicles and power batteries, has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Uber, designed to bring 100,000 new BYD EVs onto the Uber platform across key global markets.
Ways of increasing the amount of wheelchair-accessible taxis across the city are set to be explored to make it easier for those who need one to get one.
Cumbrian taxi drivers are fighting back against proposed licensing changes they fear will cripple their livelihoods.
Bolton taxi drivers are urged to sign up for free safeguarding and disability awareness training before the deadline on October 31st, 2024.
A Conwy Council meeting on Monday revealed a critical failing that allowed a taxi driver whose license had been revoked to continue transporting children to school.
Worcester City Council is seeking public opinion on a proposal to make safeguarding training mandatory for taxi and private hire drivers.
A proposal to increase driver, vehicle and private hire operator licences was discussed on Friday 19 July 19 at Sheffield City Council’s waste and street scene committee.
Through this collaboration, FREENOW willl provide additional benefits giving drivers up to 25% off pay-as-you-go rates across the entire bp pulse electric charging network and discounted fuel at all UK bp branded sites.
Wakefield Licensing, working alongside West Yorks Police Roads Policing unit, NPT, Off-Road Bike Team, Police Intercept Team, DVLA & DVSA, held a Partnership Day of Action at Thornes Park.