Cab licence fees dispute taken to WestminsterTHE secretary of Guildford Hackney Association has called on the government to investigate the amounts charged for taxi licences by the borough.
In a message to the House of Commons Transport Committee, Mark Rostron wrote that the council had been "illegally profiting for years" from the issuing of both driver and vehicle licences.
By law, fees charged by councils for issuing taxi licences should only cover costs and should not be used to pay for other functions within the licensing department.
Drivers of both hackney cabs and private hire vehicles must purchase a licence every three years, at a cost of £215.
A licence must also be purchased annually for each vehicle, costing £348.
However, Mr Rostron has been in dispute with the council over the amounts charged.
He claims they do not match the administration costs of the department.
“What they have done is charged an arbitrary amount of department time to the issuance of taxi licences without a proper calculation of how much should be charged,” he said.
“They have set the licence fees to help subsidise the department to balance its books.”
According to data from 2011, there were wide discrepancies between the time recorded for issuing each type of licence.
Times recorded ranged from an hour and 20 minutes to more than four hours.
Licensed vehicles are tested twice a year at the council’s Woking Road depot, at a cost of £56.
Mr Rostron said that aside from the two vehicle checks, all drivers get for the cost of the vehicle licence is a piece of paper and a metal plate.
He dismissed the council’s claim that there were other costs in terms of time spent issuing licences as "hand waving".
“The point is if they can justify that then fine, but what we have got is time records when it appears they are charging hours and hours of time,” he said.
“The time they are spending issuing vehicle licences is just issuing a plate and issuing a licence which just takes half an hour.”
He said that there may be another half an hour spent behind the scenes but not to the extent that has been charged.
In his email, Mr Rostron wrote that Guildford was just one example of councils overcharging drivers.
“In my view, the data shows that taxi drivers have been grossly and improperly overcharged for years,” it read.
“I hope you instruct the councils to start to make a proper calculation of the true costs of issuance of these licences and that the councils refund the overcharges made over many years.”
A spokesman for Guildford Borough Council said: “We have investigated Mr Rostron’s claims and our approach has been audited both internally and by independent auditors.
“There were some recommendations from the audits which we have implemented but overall it showed that our approach for calculating taxi and private hire licences is reasonable and in line with the legal requirements.
“A further audit is already scheduled this year to ensure that previous recommendations are in place and identify any further steps that need to be taken.
“We will continue to liaise with Mr Rostron and we are confident that we can resolve the issue to the satisfaction of both of us.”
source:
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/21343 ... estminster
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