Durham dead-end?  (21/7/2004)

Plate issue is put on hold following legal advice taken by local trade, while Gateshead drivers threaten demonstrations unless new taxi license issues are suspended.

Durham City Council has postponed plans to issue licenses to nine new wheelchair accessible taxis following legal advice given to local trade associations by counsel secured by the National Private Hire Association.  The NPHA has asked for all documentation relevant to the dispute, and requested that the new plate issue be put on hold until various issues are resolved.

The Durham City Taxi Association and Durham Independent Taxi Association are unhappy with several issues, including a planned colour specification and maximum age limits for vehicles, and a requirement for wheelchair accessible vehicles with rear access, not to mention the issue of new plates.  A taxi trade representative said that the drivers were of the view that vehicles should be silver in colour rather than the planned white, and also claimed that side access vehicles would be more appropriate for wheelchair users in the city because of the nature of the ranks in the town.

The move follows a late night strike by drivers which left Durham without taxis on the Thursday night that saw England's exit from Euro 2004 at the hands of Portugal, with taxis withdrawn at about the time that the match went to penalties.  The trade subsequently consulted the NPHA because of claimed intransigence from the council.

Councillors had earlier planned to issue 45 new licenses over the next fives to increase the current 55 plates to 100, with only two vehicles currently wheelchair accessible. With license plates currently changing hands for up to £20,000, the Liberal Democrat-controlled council aims to move away from this private trading of plates and would issue plates until the waiting list for applicants was exhausted.

An unmet demand survey financed by a £109 levy on existing plate holders had recommended the issue of an additional nine new taxi plates, but trade members claim that the their views were being ignored by the council.

Representative Jonathan MacManus told The Journal that the council had disregarded the recommendation of the survey to issue only an additional nine licenses.  He said: "I appreciate we need more taxis in Durham, I don't want to see fights in taxi ranks, but we will see a situation where freelance taxi drivers are working when it suits them, and the main operators will have cars sitting empty because we won't be able to get any drivers. So if somebody wants a taxi at 3am they will be unable to find one. We will continue to take action until the council listens to our viewpoint. Buying a plate is the same as, say, buying a newsagent's shop. You put the money in but you work to gain a reward."

The plan is also opposed by Labour MP Gerry Steinberg, who  said: "The policies proposed are bizarre and would effectively discriminate against operators who are providing employment within the City. I agree with operators that disregarding established issuing procedures, in effect cherry-picking applicants, is unfair, open to abuse and cannot be justified. Obviously, a reduction in the number of drivers working for full-time operators would create an overall driver shortage and the general public would see a decline in service."

However, in a submission to the independent survey, Phillip Wilkinson, a former driver in the city, claimed that the increase in demand for taxis had not been matched with any increase in supply, and thus at times availability was 'woefully inadequate'.  Mr Wilkinson also said that from Thursday to Sunday taxi users could queue for up to two hours after 10pm, leading to unrest and ultimately violence.   He also claimed that drivers' earnings often failed to meet the national minimum wage, and that allowing drivers to run their own vehicles would alleviate this.

Meanwhile, drivers in nearby Gateshead claim that their health, home life and the safety of the public are being put at risk because they are working 80-hour weeks to make ends meet.

Trade representatives have met with council officials to seek a limit on the number of taxi plates issues, following a large increase in numbers in recent years, and said that they will stage regular demonstrations if the council does not cap the number of plates.

Frankie Clark, a driver of 15 years experience, told The Journal that he worked 80 hours per week, doing school runs in the morning and then working the clubs at night.  He calculated that he takes home £2.60 for every hour worked.

T&G assistant branch secretary Mick Pollard told the newspaper that there were already sufficient licenses to cope with demand from the new developments in the area, and called for a suspension on new issues.  He said: They should then reserve the right to review that as planning permission is given for any further developments such as shopping centres or housing estates.  If not we will have no hesitation in staging regular demonstrations.

But Gateshead council cabinet member David Bollands said that the advice from central government was to not restrict taxi license numbers.

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