Taxi Driver Online

Here's a recent Article on Wyre Forest quality control policy. Will Wyre Forest owners be the first to challenge these quality control conditions in a court of law citing part three of the 1995 DDA? Interesting option.
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Dozens of furious Kidderminster taxi drivers have staged a mass protest outside council offices after being told to stump up £30,000 for new cabs. Councillors are expected to approve proposals to make cabbies pay the large amount for new vehicles to phase out the saloon style models currently on the roads. The move is part of a Wyre Forest District Council de-regulation plan to make drivers buy larger Hackney Carriages when it is time for them to renew. But around 30 drivers crammed into Duke House car park on Friday to say that the proposals are not what passengers want and not what they can afford. Councillors will make a final decision on the controversial plans on Monday next week. Regency Taxis boss Trevor Owen said the proposals would cripple the industry and would cause drivers to go bust. He said: “How can we all afford £30,000 for new cabs. It is impossible. “The end result is that there will be less people on the roads because they won’t be able to find the money. “When we questioned passengers, 72 per cent said they prefer the saloon cars we drive and they don’t even know that they are going to be taken off the roads.” But council leader Stephen Clee said that the new influx of Hackney cabs is what taxi representatives said in a survey. He said: “I don’t know what they are moaning about. “This is no different to what is happening everywhere else in the country,” he added. “A London black cab costs around £25,000 but a new five door estate car would cost around £18,000 so we are not talking about a lot more money. “We are talking about making the service better, not worse.”
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The scenic in my thinks that the local trade were all up for the WAV conditions on newly issued plates, but not on the existing fleet.

Clearly their views on WAVs have changed since the council has now decided that all taxis will be WAVs, not just the new ones.

Still at least it will stop the market being flooded, and one would have thought they would have supported that.

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IDFIMH