Source: Sunday Herald

SCOTTISH TAXI maker Allied Vehicles is eyeing a new £40 million market after obtaining a high court ruling allowing it to sell its cabs in London, Liverpool and Manchester for the first time.

Allied, based at Possil in Glasgow, has spent more than two years in a court battle with Liverpool City Council alongside disability campaigners to overturn a ban on hackney cabs unable to turn within an 8.5 metre radius.

The rule, dating back to the era of horse-drawn cabs, ruled out Allied’s standard Peugot E7 model, handing an effective monopoly to Coventry-based LTI Vehicles, the UK’s only other major taxi maker.

Given equivalent restrictions in London, Manchester, and smaller cities such as Coventry and Peterborough, the rule has denied Allied access to a market worth around £40m a year - more than half the UK total. But Mr Justice Blake has now decided Liverpool’s rule contravened EU competition laws and also the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), as the smaller LTI cabs do not give adequate access for disabled passengers.

Gerry Facenna, Allied’s chairman, called the ruling a “massive” boost for his company, which has already had to fight behind-the-scenes battles in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham for access to the taxi market “We are very excited about it,” he said. “Dealers all over the country are contacting us to say that they think this is going to open everything up.”

He said that the judgement was particularly well-timed in this respect because its struggling competitor LTI had just given dealerships 12 months’ notice of withdrawal of business, allowing the firm to cut costs through direct sales.

Although Liverpool City Council has a month to appeal the ruling, Facenna said London presented a far more exciting opportunity should the decision stand. The 23,000 hackneys there represent over half the national total, and 1500 of them are replaced each year.

In the past Allied has won an average of 60% of the business in the cities to which it has access. The company first challenged the rules that excluded it from London in court five years ago, resulting in minor changes that left the status quo essentially unchanged. Legal advisers told the firm that mounting another challenge might cost as much as £1m.

“It was going to cost us a fortune,” said Facenna. “We were also fighting Edinburgh council over similar issues at the time, and we couldn’t fight everyone. Fortunately we eventually reached an agreement out of court with the Edinburgh leaders.”

The judgement comes at a time of deep crisis for the taxi manufacturing industry, as banks are refusing to lend drivers money to replace cabs. Last year LTI plunged into £14.2m pre-tax losses as cab sales fell by a third, prompting not only the dealership cutback but also 20% staff cuts. The share price of parent company Manganese Bronze fell 90%, although it has since regained about half of that value.

Allied profits in the year ended April 30, 2008 leapt 19% to £651,000 on a 56% rise in turnover to £69m, but general manager Donald Pow admitted the Glasgow company had found the market much tougher since then.

“We took a significant drop around the turn of the year, but things are beginning to pick up again, and we’re doing well with mobility cars and electric vehicles,” he said, adding that the current year’s figures would show a rise in sales year-on-year, and the company remained profitable.

A spokesman for Liverpool Council told the Sunday Herald its lawyers would wait for the written judgement before deciding whether to take the case to appeal.

“We reached our decision to ban the taxis after lengthy consideration. Our concerns are also shared by a number of authorities,” he said.

Committee members were worried the E7s would not be able to turn in narrow streets. There were also safety concerns over sliding doors and vehicle height.

LTI Vehicles did not respond to a request for comment before the Sunday Herald went to press.

Council’s approach questioned after WAV court ruling

Source: Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL wheelchair taxi campaigners are rightly celebrating a landmark High Court victory. But I’m just puzzled why their fight ever had to get this far – and leave ratepayers with what will almost certainly be a whopping legal bill.

The campaigners fought tirelessly to overturn a decision by the council’s licensing committee to reject an application for a wheelchair accessible Peugeot E7 cab, made by Glasgow-based Allied Vehicles.

The new-style cabs, which Liverpool Wheelchair Users Group say provides a good and ‘safer’ alternative for people who have difficulty in using black cabs, are already used in many cities across the country – and in all neighbouring Merseyside authorities, despite the city council’s concerns about its sliding doors and turning space.

All the campaigners want is the right to choose to use a cab that is best – and safer – for them. That’s not too much to ask, is it? Judge Justice Blake has now ruled the council must reconsider its decision.

The court noted the council’s Equality Impact Assessment had been inadequate and that errors of fundamental fact had been made by the decision-making committee which had not taken much of the evidence on board.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which supported the campaigners, argued that the council’s decision was unlawful as it discriminated against disabled people contrary to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

It also argued that the process leading to the decision was flawed and unfair and the Equality Impact Assessment carried out by the council as part of the decision-making process was defective.

Susie Uppal, director of the Commission’s enforcement team, said: “Access to public transport, and taxis in particular, is a fundamental issue for disabled people and essential to them in order to access the same opportunities as non-disabled people.”

Wheelchair user Alma Lunt, who brought the claim against the council, said: “We are used to facing many barriers and challenges in daily life and were determined to press on and get our voices listened to.”

Liverpool Wheelchair Users Group secretary, John Bruce, said: “Liverpool Licensing Committee, officers and solicitors have spent so much time in the last two years denying there are difficulties and safety issues for wheelchair users in using the black cabs.

“Anything and everything seems to have been done to block access to the Peugeot E7, a modern style taxi cab design, which can safely accommodate many of today’s larger wheelchairs.”

Donald Pow, at Allied Vehicles, said: “The ruling is terrific for disabled people in Liverpool and will have positive implications for others from all over the country.”

The formal judgement will be given on September 7.