Plate premiums in the Lancashire town are on the up after the local authority restricted numbers.

Taxi licenses now command a premium following Bolton Council's September 2002 decision to restrict the number of vehicles plying for hire, following complaints from the local trade that drivers were struggling to make ends meet.  Until then anyone meeting the specified criteria could license a vehicle but now prospective new taxi operators must either join a waiting list or buy a plate from an existing owner.  However, drivers are cagey about the exact value of the licenses.

A survey commissioned by the council confirmed that there was no unmet demand evident with the 106 taxi licenses currently in issue.  A waiting list of 41 new applicants for licenses is now maintained by the council, and the situation will be reviewed within 18 months.

Mr Charles Oakes of the Bolton Hackney Association told the Bolton Evening News that since drivers felt more positive about their potential income then older cabs were being replaced by more modern vehicles.

Mr Oakes also defended the premiums for taxi plates on the basis that this rewarded drivers for good service and also provided an incentive to give a service of a high standard.  He said: "If people out there have done good work and built their business up, then something drastic happens and they cannot work any more, why shouldn't they get something back? If someone pays £10,000 for a cab and plate, they will have to work at it to get their money back and will give a better service."

Night buses
Meanwhile, Mr Oakes said that a new late night bus service to be introduced in Bolton to help clear the streets of troublemakers would attract the same kind of anti-social behaviour that the taxi trade had suffered.  But he claimed that the service would not be detrimental to the taxi trade since at closing time "there is enough business for everyone".

However, Mohammed Azim of a Bradshawgate private hire firm claimed that the buses would be detrimental to business.  But Nick Astley of Metro Cars claimed that the buses would fail anyway and thus make no difference.  He said: "There will be nothing but trouble on the new night buses. You only need one idiot to start a fight and that is it. Even if the tickets were free, I can't see people wanting to travel on them. I think they would feel safer in a taxi."

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