Taxi Driver Online

I brushed over the headline and strapline here, and thought Andy Burnham had said something new about cross-bordering

But I must have read the word 'new' in the strapline as 'ex-'

Anyway, all eminently predictable stuff here, but one or two interesting nuggets, and it's interesting how these people who sound so clever, confident and articulate when it's generalist stuff don't sound so clever when it's stuff they think they know about but don't

But I suppose that if anyone is capable of influencing the former Labour mayor and reminding him of what he said now that he's preoccupied with the bigger picture, then it's the current mayor.


Greater Manchester could finally get new powers to tackle 'out-of-town' taxis

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... w-34452912

The region's new mayor was quizzed on the issue on Thursday (August 13).

Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig said she’s hopeful the region will finally get new powers over out-of-town taxis.

The issue has long caused concerns among residents who have questioned why many taxis in Greater Manchester hold licences from other areas of the country, such as Wolverhampton and Sefton.

A resident named Bob from Stretford quizzed the region’s new mayor on what he described as an ‘appalling’ issue during the BBC Radio Manchester hot seat on Thursday (August 13).

Bob said: “I want to ask you about out-of-town taxis coming in from Wolverhampton and Sefton, what’s your plan to stop this appalling practice?”

Bev Craig responded: “It’s something that’s been bothering us for a long time, we’ve all seen it loads of taxis, be it Wolverhampton or Sefton, you see them coming in from out of town.

“We’ve been asking the government, fighting the government for more power and a change in law, that would give us the power in Greater Manchester to have taxis that are here working in GM, licensed in GM.

“The reason we want that, it’s not knocking Wolverhampton, but we have to have consistent rules about security for vehicles, the checks they do for taxi drivers, and they’ve got to know the route as well, so we’re hoping over the course of the autumn that we might get a bit of change to legislation that will give us the power to be able to see it actually licensed in Greater Manchester.”

Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who became Prime Minister in July, has regularly spoken out about out-of-town taxis operating in the region, and in January he said plans by the government to reduce out-of-area taxis were ‘not good enough’.

The region’s new mayor Bev Craig, a former leader of Manchester council, said she spent ‘a long time’ speaking to Andy Burnham about the situation, and revealed that she also spoke to Wolverhampton about the issue directly.

She added: “I’m hopeful now that Andy is in the PM seat. This is something that isn’t just a Greater Manchester issue, everybody wants some action on this across the country, I’m hoping he’ll be able to crack on and change that law and we can be able to licence them here in GM.

“If there was a national law that set it out, saying that if you’re a taxi and you live in Manchester or you live in Trafford, then you should be registered near the place where you live.

“It doesn't mean that the taxi drivers on Uber can’t go and take a job in Cheshire, but if [it is] most of your businesses and where you live, you should be registered there. If the government changed the law there wouldn’t be a loophole and we’d be able to act on it.”

Well maybe you should be knocking Wolverhampton. But maybe she's another high-powered figure who's fallen for the Wolverhampton-as-victim spiel

As for 'taxi' drivers 'knowing the route', I somehow doubt if they're badged by one of the Manchester councils (or a Greater Manc authority with licensing powers) rather than Wolverhampton or Sefton they'll know the route any better


Common for people to conflate badges/drivers and vehicles/plates, as best seen in the recent Inverness stuff

But the highlighted bit above is probably the best example ever

And I don't think it's about where people *live* either - it's more about aligning where drivers are *working* with where they're badged and plated.


As is often the case, not sure why Uber is being singled out there. After all, Wolverhampton licenses something like 500 other operators

To be fair to the new mayor, Uber's numbers are of course relatively huge. But she's maybe conveying the usual and misleading impression that Uber is doing something fundamentally different compared to many legacy providers.

And, again, maybe the word 'loophole' is giving the impression that the 50,000 drivers and 500 operators are taking advantage of Wolverhampton City Council. As opposed to the reality being that it's the council exploiting the loophole

In all fairness, if the PM doesn't sort it, then it will never be sorted.

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IDFIMH