Taxi Driver Online

Council cuts a matter of taxi interpretation

Taxi drivers who struggle to understand English will no longer be given the help of a taxpayer-funded interpreter - to save £300 per year. Hackney and private hire drivers currently get help with translation at town hall meetings, such as when they are applying for a licence.

The service has been used seven times since 2008 at a cost of more than £1,000 to the council but licensing chiefs are considering scrapping the service to save cash. And they are also looking at changing the procedure currently in place for drivers to appeal against penalty points imposed for offences such as ranking in the wrong place, to cut bureaucracy.

At the moment, if a driver wants to challenge the points, they can state their case in front of a committee of councillors. But the new plan is for them to simply write an appeal letter which will be considered by an independent member of town hall staff.

Mike Thorpe, head of licensing, said it followed “a significant use of officer and member resources” last year when 24 out of 25 drivers appealed points given for ranking offences.

But Charlie Oakes, chairman of the Bolton, Bury and Preston Hackney Carriage Association, said the process would not be “open and transparent”. He said: “It does not give any real protection to the drivers if they feel aggrieved. The whole point in 2010 was the lack of information as to why the points were issued.

“The drivers should be given the right to refuse the issue of points which then could be considered by the courts, removing any need for appeals by way of the council.” He said the loss of interpreters was “a breach of human rights” but Mr Thorpe said the council had considered the Equalities Act in making the recommendation.

Mark Selley, secretary of the Preston Hackney Carriage Association, said: “The translator has to be paid for so you could argue, if times are hard for the council, you have to cut costs where possible. “Given the rigorous tests and qualifications needed to become a Hackney driver, one would expect them to have a pretty reasonable grasp of English to get that far anyway.”

And he said he was in support of the change in the appeals process as long as the person deciding the cases was “independent from the licensing department”.

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IDFIMH

If the job requires drivers to comunicate in English, then the use of an interpretor should not be allowed.

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Grandad,

Agreed.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

shouldnt be NEEDED never mind allowed, what would happen if i wanted to plate up in Athens or Madrid and couldnt speeka da lingo?

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most