Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies in Leeds are spearheading a national petition against a proposed deregulation of the trade which they say could cost hundreds of drivers their jobs and reduce the quality of service in the city.

The Government is currently considering scrapping Section 16 of the Transport Act 1985 – which allows councils to limit the number of hackney carriages in their local authority area based on supply and demand – as part of a review of ancient taxi laws.

The change would open up the trade and, say campaigners, hit jobs, service quality and even the environment hard.

Leeds currently has 537 licensed hackney carriages, and the numbers are reviewed regularly.

There are, additionally, around 5,000 private hire licences in operation in the city.

Paul Landau, who chairs the Leeds Hackney Carriage branch of Unite The Union, said the worst knock-on effect would be on night-shift drivers who don’t have a car of their own but lease one from a colleague, or licence ‘proprietor’, on a ‘double shifted’ basis.

“If Section 16 is repealed under this new legislation, the restriction on numbers of taxis in Leeds and other cities will be lifted and anybody could go along to the licensing department and say ‘I would like a hackney licence’ and go to work,” Mr Landau said.

“In Leeds you could see the numbers triple overnight, or go higher.

“The potential for mass unemployment is huge.

“In Leeds we could see anywhere up to 500 jobs lost instantly in the Hackney sector.”

Mr Landau said other cities where the hackney trade was de-regulated had been forced to cap numbers again because of the pressure it was a putting on drivers. He added a “massive influx” of new taxis would also increase the city’s pollution levels.

Mr Landau and his Leeds colleagues have now launched an e-petition against the proposals, which can be viewed at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions /27536.

The petition will start in Leeds but, said Mr Landau, will be rolled out nationwide in the coming months,

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... _1_4155371

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Union wakes from slumber?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

A sweeping statement if ever there was one, and no-doubt could lead to a zillion post thread. If we haven't already discussed this a zillion times.

So if hundreds of drivers leave, wont that leave oodles of work for those left?

And where is the quality of service reduced (for punters) in de-restricted areas?

All I ever read about is too many cabs for the number of punters i.e. the complete reverse.

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IDFIMH

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IDFIMH

Of course.....its nice to see this branch of unite show concern......the murkyside one seems to think it can manipulate the LC.

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

What complete and utter contadictory and self-serving nonsense.

Let's rephrase all that.

"The worst knock-on effect would be on night-shift drivers who don't have their own car so are shafted by 'colleagues' or a licence 'proprietor'."

"If Section 16 is repealed under this new legislation the serfs could go along to the licensing department and say ‘I would like a hackney licence’ and go to work without lining someone else's pocket,” someone living in the real world said.