Fury as taxi driver crackdown in Worcester pushed back to next yearFURIOUS taxi drivers are threatening to strike - after Worcester’s politicians were prevented from capping cab numbers in an extraordinary row with their own staff.
Amid farcical scenes at the Guildhall last night, a move to suspend new taxi driver licenses and restrict numbers has been pushed back into next year.
Despite an independent survey saying many of Worcester’s 311 taxis are constantly empty, drive around in circles waiting for passengers and park illegally due to a lack of rank space, council officers said a fresh consultation must be done before any crackdown can be introduced.
It was hotly disputed by politicians, who said they were “furious and speechless” about the stance.
It means no decision can be now made until the next licensing committee meeting in February.
The officers said the independent report was done before University of Worcester students arrived in September, potentially missing out 10,000 customers, and was only conducted over four days.
The licensing officers also said the Queen Street rank had been missed out of the survey, and that the independent survey "does not appear" to suggest what a suitable limit should be.
The council’s staff also said they feared a legal challenge from a would-be driver unless the authority did a consultation of its own, sparking fury among councillors and drivers.
As your Worcester News revealed on Monday, the taxi trade has spent £8,000 having the survey done in the hope of a cap.
Councillor Simon Cronin, speaking during a licensing committee meeting, said: “I am shaking my head in disbelief.
"I have sat on this committee for seven years, for that whole time the taxi trade has said the numbers are too high and there should be a limit, our officers have said 'you can't do that without this survey of unmet demand being done', and now it's been done at last, you say 'it doesn't take into account the Queen Street rank', well blow me, nobody uses it anyway.
"I am completely flabbergasted.
“We’ve finally got this survey done to put a cap on numbers and now we hear, after all these years, it’s not enough.
“I am astonished and pretty furious.”
During the debate politicians also said they feared a rush of applications from prospective drivers ahead of February, when it is hoped restrictions can finally apply.
Councillor Jabba Riaz added: “There certainly needs to be a suspension on new plating so we can work towards a cap, and there’s no question in my mind we can do it tonight.”
Councillor Paul Denham, licensing committee chairman, said Southampton, which is 2.5 times larger than Worcester, with a big football team and the busiest cruise port in the UK, has around the same number of taxis as the city.
He also said Lincoln, with a similar population to Worcester, has 35 hackney carriages, compared to 254 here (and 57 private hire cabs).
Oxford has a cap of 107 hackney carriages, despite having 50,000 more residents than Worcester.
Coun Denham said: "I don't think anything like 10,000 students will need or use the taxis anyway.
"To my mind, the figures are so out of kilter with other towns and cities, even if all the students were here when the survey was done, it wouldn't have made much difference."
But the suggestion was refuted by officers, who said the council needed “more evidence gathering” and “clear grounds” to cap a figure and avoid potential High Court challenges.
Ruth Mullen, corporate director for service delivery, said: “We would need to create a policy, then consult with the public over it before this can be done.”
Some councillors, including Tory Lucy Hodgson and Labour's Jo Hodges, backed the director's stance, saying the council should not do anything with risky complications.
Mrs Mullen said licensing laws would prevent the council from legally blocking any would-be drivers without that work taking place.
The committee agreed to ask officers to work on a new policy to restrict numbers and consult over it, with a view to a vote in February.
They also voted to remove a £50 fee for private hire cabbies and examine ways to create more rank space in the city.
Also, any new hackney carriage drivers from now on will need to buy a brand new vehicle, costing at least £17,000 - a tactic aimed to discourage applications.
The vehicle age limits for new private hire drivers have also been increased from three years to five years.
Finally, the committee agreed to increase taxi fares for hackney carriage vehicles to £3.50 for the first 1,208 metres (about three quarters of a mile) from 7am to midnight, and £4.50 outside of that time.
Those rises are nine and seven per cent respectively - 30p for each starting rate.
The costs once 1,208 metres have been travelled remain the same.
After the meeting some taxi drivers, who were present for last night's debate as well as a police officer, threatened to strike.
Mohammed Sajad, a hackney driver, said: “There’s nothing left for us to do but strike.
"We've had enough and are totally fed up with it. The only answer is a strike now."
source:
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/108 ... ar/?ref=nt
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