Taxi Driver Online

Call for cap on taxis

Chesterfield taxi drivers are demanding council action to limit the number of taxis in the borough because they are struggling to make a living in the current saturated market.

Hackney carriage drivers Dave Hopton and Eric Needham said that drivers are finding it hard to earn enough money to run their homes and maintain their vehicles because there are too many taxis vying for customers.

They have written to Chesterfield Borough Council to ask that a cap on the number of taxis be imposed and want an independent survey to be carried out to reveal the extent of the problem and force the council to take action.

Dave (58.), chairman of the Chesterfield Hackney Association, said: "We are working up to 80 hours a week and still not taking what we were 20 years ago.

"It's urgent we have an unmet demand survey because the town is ridiculously overcrowded with taxis."

There are now 173 licensed Hackney carriages in Chesterfield, fighting over just 19 rank spaces, and up from 40 in 1995.

Eric (56), a taxi driver for 36 years, said: "The job is shot — it's not worth a bag of balloons.

"If somebody came to me tomorrow and offered me the right price I would sell the lot because I have had enough of it."

A spokeswoman for Chesterfield Borough Council said that it has recently held a review on whether a limit on the number of taxis is needed and its findings will soon be considered.

Cllr David Stone, safe communities boss, said: "The requirement for an unmet demand survey is being considered and in an effort to deal with taxi issues it has been proposed we form a taxi liaison committee with the trade."

source: http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/

Where have I heard this one before? Oh yeah..... the drivers have to pay for the survey..... They won't be able to afford it and their council won't finance it either!!........ Catch 22