St Albans taxi drivers’ calls for fare extra rejectedA BID by taxi drivers in St Albans to increase their income by calling for fare extras to be introduced was thrown out by councillors last night.
Members of St Albans District Council’s licensing regulatory committee came together with the St Albans and Harpenden Taxi Association to consider the request.
The taxi drivers say some of the bigger cars, for example seven seaters, should be able to charge extra for carrying two or more persons as the vehicle is more expensive to run.
However councillors on the committee disagreed and rejected their calls. The drivers had also asked for the outside of the cars to carry adverts for local businesses but this was also refused.
Mudassar Yason, secretary of the drivers’ association, said although their calls for fare extras were rejected, the cabbies were glad some other issues were resolved. He added that an agreement was reached about advertisements inside the cabs and to help reduce carbon emmisions no cars below a 1.7 diesel engine would now be granted a licence.
He said: “With the fare extras I guess the decision was fine. At the end of the day we could have gone for a fare increase but we understand that people say the last increase was extortinate and we have lost a few customers because of this.
“We are glad the internal advertising was resolved but at the same time disappointed local businesses, who need all the support they can get at this time of recession, will not have the opportunity to have adverts visible on the outside.”
source:
http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/94 ... _rejected/
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