Customers 'will lose out' Dale taxi firm boss warns
Dec 28, 2010
The boss of Teesdale’s longest-running cab firm says proposed changes to the way taxis operate throughout the county could mean customers will lose out.
Keith Hodgson, of Hodgson Taxis, said he is worried that plans to remove specific zones in which local taxis can operate will have a detrimental impact on those using the service.
At present, the county is split up into seven zones and drivers are only able to operate within their own locality.
However, Durham County Council’s planned overhaul of the taxi licensing policy will allow an unlimited number of Hackney carriage drivers from other parts of the county to pick up passengers in Teesdale.
Mr Hodgson said operators coming into the dale from outside of the area could confuse passengers and leave them out of pocket.
He said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea if they split up the seven zones. We have a lot of elderly customers who are used to us and our drivers know them.
“They’ll walk them to the door, take their shopping in for them, it’s a personal service and they trust. Bringing in firms from outside Teesdale will cause confusion.
“They are trying to introduce a big city policy to a rural area and it won’t work.”
As well as making changes to the way taxis operate, the council is also proposing that all new vehicles should be white – another idea that Mr Hodgson thinks would be bad news for passengers.
He said: “At the minute if people leave something in a cab they can say that they left it in the blue car, or the red car, and if it wasn’t one of ours we would know which firm’s it was.
“If all the taxis are the same colour people won’t be able to differentiate who the car belongs to. As it stands people know who’s who.”
The proposed changes will be finalised by Durham County Council’s licensing committee in the New Year but it could several years before all the new policies are rolled out.
Mr Hodgson, who represents Teesdale drivers on a taxi working group set up by Durham County Council, said: “The upshot of all this is that if you bring in others drivers form out of the area the quality of services that people currently get in Teesdale will suffer.”
Drivers at Hodgson Taxis, which has been operating in Teesdale for 25 years, braved the recent snows to make essential medical deliveries.
Drivers collected prescriptions from Boots the chemist and took the tablets and medicines to people living in some of the most remote parts of the dale.
Source; http://www.teesdalemercury.co.uk/teesda ... ,3096.html
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