Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies happy with freeze on new licences


TAXI drivers have welcomed news the council is considering freezing the number of new licences given out to cabbies in Southend.

Southend Council recently carried out a survey to see if more taxis were needed and bosses say there are enough drivers in the town.

The council has now said it will consider freezing the number of new licences it grants to new drivers over the next three years.

Angry drivers threatened strike action last month in a bid to cut competition and safeguard their futures after the council said it planned to increase the number of new licences per year from 14 to 16.

Dave Clift, of the Southend Licensed taxi Drivers Assoc-iation, welcomed the move.

He said: “It is nice to see the council has adopted this to help the taxi trade through this recession.

“We are more than happy with that and obviously we will stand by the result of a survey in three years time.”

Council leader, Nigel Holdcroft, added: “I think we have a very good provision of Hackney carriages across the town and they suffering like many other small businesses.

“There are three alternatives, we could take a view any form of regulation was wrong and we could de-limit so anyone who wanted one could have one.

“What I would anticipate is freezing the number of plates and do a further survey in 2012.

“I have sympathy, they clearly are suffering and it is an important service.

“There are many of our residents, particularly the elderly, who are dependant on taxis to get around town. We don’t want to pursue a policy to undermine that service.”

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