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“If Section 16 is repealed under this new legislation, the restriction on numbers of taxis in Leeds and other cities will be lifted and anybody could go along to the licensing department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,
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