Taxi Driver Online

Dispute over taxi fares nears end


A LONG-RUNNING dispute over taxi fare increases in Angus could soon be over.


The local authority’s civic licensing 
committee has finally picked a proposed fare increase option for the county following 
months of delays and meetings.

Under the Terms of the Civic Licensing (Scotland) Act 1982, councils are required to review taxi fares in their area once every 18 months.

However, the last review in Angus was initiated in March 2010 and implemented in September that year.

A review was eventually initiated late last year but the process has rolled on for months due to disputes over charges and a clerical error.

The Civic Licensing committee 
eventually came to a conclusion over its preferred option yesterday, which proposes an overall 4% increase in fares.

The preferred option was submitted by Wendy Boath of Forfar Taxis, who cited rising fuel costs and Angus’ low standings in the average national rate as reasons for increasing the fares.

Wendy said: “Since the last fare review there has been a 24% increase in fuel and an 11% increase in taxi licence fees so I would suggest that my fare increase is well within the increases of everything else.”

Afterwards Wendy told The Courier she was happy with the committee’s decision.

She said: “I’m quite pleased. I couldn’t see how they could justify their original choice but I think everyone is quite happy.

“It’s not too high for the punters and it’s a rise in cost in line with everything else.”

The council had previously picked an option proposed by B Forbes of Carnoustie, which only suggested a fare increase for short journeys and no increase over festive periods.

Ms Boath and fellow taxi driver Mitch Murray made representations against that decision when it was advertised by the 
committee, which led to the review being discussed again at a meeting in January.

Inaccurate figures were included in the report at the January meeting which meant the decision was deferred until yesterday, 
where Councillor David Fairweather backed Ms Boath’s option — a motion 
seconded by Councillor Lynne Devine.

The option will be circulated locally for representations to be made and if none are submitted to the council within the allotted 
time then the new tariffs will be implemented 
in cooperation with Tayside Police.

source: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/ ... nd-1.72795

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin