Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers’ licence fees likely to go up



Taxi drivers will have to pay more to stay on the roads next year, a meeting heard.

Low fees and a rise in the number of applications from outside the county contributed to Shropshire Council’s licensing department making a loss of £60,000 during 2010/11. The situation was discussed by members of the council’s strategic licensing committee at Shirehall.

And instead of making drivers pay towards recovering that money by doubling current fees, councillors yesterday favoured lower rises of just under 10 per cent to get the money back over a longer period of time.

This would see the cost of a first-year driver’s badge going up by £10 to just over £150.

And a three-year badge would cost £120 instead of £110.

Would-be taxi drivers who fail the council’s knowledge test will have to pay £62 for a resit.

At present there is no charge and drivers have been resitting it several times.

They will now go out for a month’s consultation before going back to the council for a final decision.

Council officers had reviewed the fees to make sure the charges better reflected the amount of work and money they cost the council to administer.

Richard Price, chairman of the Shrewsbury Drivers’ Action Group, told councillors drivers were not responsible for the loss.

“We did not create this situation and therefore would not expect to be forced to suffer by the recovery of this deficit in the short term.

“Trade in our area is suffering very seriously from the economic downturn and the massive influx of drivers from out of the area.”


Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012 ... z1jpWQ40T1

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

I wonder if the fees are going up because they were previously too low due to the new amalgamated local authority not knowing what they were doing?

I cannot see how the influx of drivers has affected the fees in a bad way.....surely they are the ones possibly creating money?

CC

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

They haven't a f***ing clue what they are doing.

The council are getting bundles more cash, and the drivers are working elsewhere, thus no enforcement costs.

Cloud cuckoo land.

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IDFIMH

I think you're right....if they need a 50% increase why only give a 10% rise?

f*cking stupid......and at £120 for a badge for 3 years they are still far too cheap.

CC

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

Like Bolsover, 99.9% of their licensed cars work in Mansfield with no enforcement from Bolsover or Mansfield.

Ten drivers keep failing and re-sitting the test, eventually after several attempts they all pass and pay for licences, put cars on and pay for pit tests etc.

Ten drivers sit and fail the test, only one is prepared to pay £62 for a re-sit, passes and puts a car on. Or they fail again and decide they can't afford the cost of yet another re-sit and gives up.

Which is better for the councils bank balance ?

As they're not supposed to make a profit, neither.

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