TAXI drivers want to increase their flat rate fares by 40 per cent on trips to and from Cheltenham Spa train station.
Cabbies who operate at the site say the effects of the recession mean they have no choice but to put up prices. A petition has been lodged with Cheltenham Borough Council on behalf of the 44 Hackney Carriage drivers who are based at the site.They say they can often wait for more than three hours for a job and when they get one it is invariably a short journey that does not pay the way.
Driver Paul Luke said: “We know it could be seen as insensitive due to the economic position, but we have suffered as much as anyone in the downturn.” The £2 flat fee, which appears on the meter the moment a passenger steps into a Hackney Carriage, has not increased since 2003.
Drivers have petitioned the borough council to allow them to raise the fee to £2.80. If approved, all Hackney Carriages in the town could follow suit. Cabbies also want permission to charge an extra £3 per journey when they are carrying five or six passengers.
Currently, they charge an extra 40p, but say private hire taxis charge a “fare-and-a-half” for full cars. Drivers say they are seeing around half the customers a week compared to two years ago.
“Certainly since the recession started, work has dropped away dramatically,” Mr Luke said.
“It’s got to the point where most drivers in the trade are struggling to earn a living, even if they are working seven days a week.
“I work seven days most weeks, so I can state this from a personal point of view.”
Increased petrol and diesel prices have brought additional pressures, the cabbies say.
Stagecoach charges £1.60 for a single bus ride from the centre to Cheltenham Spa train station.
Starline Taxis in Cheltenham charges a minimum fair of £3.90. A trip from Cheltenham town centre to the train station costs £4.80.
Gary Knight, a Hackney Carriage driver based in the town centre, said: “If they manage to get this approved it will be good news for everyone.”
Mike Kingsbury, 63, has been driving taxis in Cheltenham since the early 1970s and is based at the station.
He said: “It used to be a good job with good comradeship. Now it’s beyond a joke.
“I can take a passenger from the station to Montpellier and earn £3.50. When I get back to the station I’m at the back of a queue of 20 taxis. I might take home £30 or £40 a day and put £20 of diesel in the car. I’m earning less than minimum wage.”
A spokeswoman for Cheltenham Borough Council said the petition would be considered.
Last week, in a separate dispute, private hire drivers staged a go-slow protest over new rules on carbon emissions due to be introduced by the council.
Drivers fear the rules could force cabbies to shell out for expensive upgrades to their vehicles, but the council has agreed to look at the legislation again.
source:
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/
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