Taxi Driver Online

Looked pretty boring, but one or two interesting nuggets.

But someone can't spell 'meter,' and let's not revisit the 'recalibration' debate again.


Taxi fares will not increase in Arun next year

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1978003 ... next-year/

TAXI fares will not increase next year following consultation with cabbies.

Arun District Council’s licensing committee recommended that taxi fares stay the same from April 2022.

If the full council agrees, current fares will remain until March 2023.

The council consults hackney carriage drivers every year on fares and reviews them accordingly.

A total of 261 drivers were consulted this year.

Of those, 16 did not want to see an increase to fares; 12 supported an increase but did not specify an amount; and eight drivers wanted fares to increase by a specific amount.

Several responses from taxi drivers called for a minimum fare of between £3.50 – £5.00.

Liberal Democrat councillor Pauline Gregory said: “Only 11 per cent of the 261 have actually bothered to respond which, to my mind, says that their earnings are sufficient – even with the fuel increases.”

One disgruntled driver wants to see a £10 surcharge for muddy passengers.

They said: “I pick up a lot of walkers and they normally leave the car mats in a filthy state.

“I would like to see the option of making an additional charge of £10 to allow for the time it takes to clear up the mud afterwards.”

The same driver said they were ‘shocked’ at the cost of getting their metre recalibrated when new fares are brought in, which they said cost them £60.

Cllr Gregory commented that the cost of recalibrating metres ‘seems huge’.

Officers explained that taxi drivers who did not use the council’s chosen company to recalibrate metres could be charged any rate, whereas those using this company would be charged between £0 and £20.

Another driver commented that ‘rising costs of fuel, insurance, maintenance, and a lower number of taxi users’ makes it ‘hard to earn a living’, adding that they sometimes ‘earn less than minimum wage’.

Conservative councillor Mike Clayden said: “I think it’s a very difficult market for taxi drivers at the moment and it’s probably not the best time to push up the fares.”

Committee chair Billy Blanchard-Cooper said: “Let’s hope it starts to get a bit easier for taxi drivers because it has not been an easy time, particularly with many people opting not to use them with Covid.”

Maximum fares last increased in April when 20 pence was added from the first mile.

This means a taxi fare in Arun could cost up to £4.50 after the first mile and £2.50 for every additional mile.

The council found that the majority of drivers had not had their metres ‘recalibrated’, so were operating on the old fare structure.

Council officers took the ‘steady increase’ in fuel prices into account when recommending fares stay the same.

However, if diesel exceeds £1.50 per litre for a month or more, fares could increase by 10 pence per mile.

Or maybe they think there's no point, and that an inner circle of officials and favoured firms will decide things, say


£0 is certainly cheap for a tariff change


Where to start with this?


While since I've seen that sort of thing mentioned

Councillors have a duty to ensure the taxi fleet is safe for those that travel in it, part of that is to ensure the business is viable.

Just because only a few contributed to the consultation doesn't mean those that didn't are happy with their lot.

A reasonable fare increase should have been voted through, instead those councillors bottled it.

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IDFIMH

What's the betting they do not bottle putting up Council tax and licensing fees.

Isn't it an offence to display the wrong tariff?

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Grandad,

Could be wrong, but not sure if it's a specific offence to show the wrong tariff as long as it's *below* the regulated tariff. (Or was that what the Liverpool v Curzon case was all about?)

But, and think we've been here often enough before, doubt if many councils would allow HCs to have meters displaying other than the official tariff, although of course there's nothing they can do about drivers charging less than what's shown on the meter.

Our do say that meters must display the correct tariff but that is the maximum that can be charged a discount can be given.

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Grandad,

Yes, that sounds about the norm. Have occasionally read articles about 'maverick' drivers wanting to retain the old tariff on the meter, but councils generally won't allow it.

So was surprised to read this yesterday about Arun, and not just a few drivers showing the old tariff, but the majority, assuming the press report is accurate