Cab firm fined by Derby City Council ... for driving in taxi lane
A cab firm boss has criticised the city council after one of his drivers received fines for driving in taxi and bus lanes.
Fred Richardson, 72, owns Albany Taxis, in Ilkeston, and his drivers have had two fines and a warning from the council after they were caught driving in the lanes in Uttoxeter New Road.
Mr Richardson said: "I first received a warning on June 24 and was a bit confused because it said that one of my cabs was in a bus, taxi and bike lane.
"My cars are hackney carriages with lights on the roof and are clearly taxis."
Following the written warning, Mr Richardson received two fixed-penalty notices for his drivers being in the taxi and bus lane again, when dropping off and picking up a patient from the Royal Derby Hospital.
Mr Richardson said: "On August 7, I received two penalty notices, of £60 each, when one of my drivers went to the hospital to drop off a client then went to pick them up later on."
After telephoning the council to complain, he said: "It took me a long time to get through to somebody because of the number of options I had to go through.
"When I did get to speak to somebody, they told me I'd received the fines because my taxis weren't Derby city taxis and therefore weren't allowed in the lanes."
Albany Taxis are licensed by Erewash Borough Council.
Mr Richardson said: "I was really angry because my taxis are clearly hackney carriages. To get a fine because they're not Derby taxis is just ridiculous."
He later received two letters in the post – one for each fine – saying that the charges had been cancelled.
"The same thing happened to a friend of mine who owns a taxi company," added Mr Richardson.
"There will be some people out there paying fines when they shouldn't be. It's a disgrace."
A council spokesman said: "Some bus lanes have an exemption for taxis. However, this exemption only applies to licensed hackney carriages, not private hire vehicles.
"Where a hackney carriage is licensed by an authority other than Derby, such as Erewash Borough Council, those vehicles may only act as a licensed hackney carriage when their customer's journey either begins or ends in the area where their vehicle is licensed.
"If that journey does not begin or end in their licensing area, they cannot behave as a hackney carriage in Derby, and so they may not drive in the bus lane.
"Penalty charge notices will be cancelled once the drivers give satisfactory evidence that they were legitimately using the bus lane as a licensed hackney carriage."
Read more: http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Cab-fir ... z3jlFitSwy
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