Taxi Driver Online

Council wants to know - are there enough taxis in Pendle?

A council has launched a public consultation to find out if there are enough taxis in the area.

Pendle Borough Council currently limits the number of licences it issues for hackney carriages to 71.

These are the vehicles that stand at taxi ranks or can be hailed from the street. They are usually red and saloon type vehicles, and differ from private hire vehicles which must be pre-booked.

The council now wants to find out if this limit should remain at 71 or whether there should be no limit at all on the number of licences it issues.

Leader of Pendle Borough Council, Councillor Nadeem Ahmed, said: “We want to know whether we have enough taxis to meet the demand across the borough.

“Do you have to wait a long time for a taxi and are there are enough vehicles which are wheelchair accessible?”

Section 16 of the Transport Act 1985 allows councils to set a limit on the number of hackney carriage licences they issue.

But guidance from the Department for Transport says that this isn’t good practice and there should be no limit unless it would be detrimental to customers.

Taxi Licensing Manager, Jackie Allen, said: “If we keep the limit of 71 we have to do a survey which will look at things like whether people have to wait a long time to get a taxi.

“If we get rid of the limit and issue more licences, we would only issue them to vehicles which are wheelchair accessible so that we would have more available.

“Existing licence holders would not be affected. They would still be able to licence saloon and multi-purpose vehicles.”

When making a decision on whether to get rid of the limit, the council will take a number of things into account, including: financial impact, potential of reduced custom for existing licence holders, congestion on taxi stands and roads, benefits for customers, opportunity for others to become involved in the trade and secure a livelihood.

Councillor Ahmed added: “We want to hear from members of the public and the taxi trade about these important issues.

“Please take the time to have your say by emailing taxi.licensing@pendle.gov.uk by Friday 8 July."

For more information visit www.pendle.gov.uk/taxi

_________________
IDFIMH

But what about the number of taxi drivers? Isn't that more important?

_________________
IDFIMH

Thought this seemed very familiar, as if it had been in the news before, but it was actually Hyndburn Council doing a similar consultation exercise a few months ago, and they're almost neighbouring councils in East Lancashire.

But very similar exercise, and the usual suggestion to delimit based on WAVs for HC plates.

But whether that's what they're intending, or whether they want the status quo can't be known, but of course they'll have to go through all the motions either way

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37823&p=417036