Taxi Driver Online

Council chiefs rake in £125,000 from taxi licence fees in Worcester

LICENCE fees for taxis to operate in Worcester have raked in more than £125,000 to the city council's coffers over the last year, it has emerged.

A Freedom of Information Request has revealed how the authority, which until now has not made it public, handles a hefty six-figure budget for its management of cabbies.

Each hackney carriage taxi driver in Worcester pays an annual fee for being on the roads, which is currently £426 for new applications and £367 for renewals.

The private hire operators, who are barred from using the ranks, pay £263 first time round and just £70 to renew.

Over a 12-month period to the end of March the council got £125,712 from it, which includes admin fees of £35.

By law the council is not allowed to make a so-called 'profit' on the scheme, and is only allowed to charge a fee which covers the costs of managing the fleet.

A breakdown on the expenditure shows a small year-end deficit of just £191 once the other costs are stripped out.

That includes £87,160 on funding Worcestershire Regulatory Services, the body which keeps a watch over the cabbies, undertaking spot-check investigations, and £38,000 on council costs.

Of that £38,000 £15,460 went on staff, £19,899 on the licensing and environmental health committee, which makes decisions on taxi policy, and £3,000 on legal support.

The FOI has come from Councillor Paul Denham, vice-chairman of the licensing committee, who had been trying to unearth the details for some time before submitting the request.

He said: "I needed to be convinced that taxi drivers in Worcester were being fairly charged for their licences and that there was no 'profit' element being used to subsidise other council activity.

"The figures now provided by the council show that the income does not quite cover the costs because there is a small deficit.

"The charges made by Worcestershire Regulatory Services are a standard charge per licence levied on all six district councils.

"I hope Worcester's taxi drivers, and their customers whose fares reflect the taxi drivers' costs will be reassured to learn that the council appears not making any profit from these fees."

The fees levied on drives can be looked at by an external auditor to ensure the money spent from it remains ring-fenced within the council's licensing function.

The prices vary from council to council and are set on a yearly basis.

As revealed yesterday, the number of public complaints made on cabbies has gone up from 29 to 34, with driver conduct the biggest cause for gripes.

Councillor Denham has requested that the complaints are brought to the licensing committee on a yearly basis to make it more transparent.

"We need to get it to our committee on a yearly basis, it should be open, public information," he said.

source: http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/ev ... 3490016._/

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

The figures still tell you/I nothing. A complete breakdown is needed on salaries, office cost and expenses in general. Also do the license fees include other licensed establishments i.e pubs, clubs, adult premises i.e anything that requires a license, on that one, there are many, or is that a separate income?

The points being; they should break down the figures of expenditure, and they all should be run under one roof/department so to speak. The question is - are they?

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Common sense........is just not that Common.