Taxi Driver Online

Fury at 'joke' loophole as 4,000 out-of-town taxi drivers given Wolverhampton licences


https://www.expressandstar.com/news/201 ... erhampton/

More than 4,000 taxi drivers from outside Wolverhampton have been granted licences in one year by the city's council – up from 60 just five years ago.

Drivers from across the country are flocking to the city council for licences because of its fast online application process, which takes 20 working days or less and costs just £69, and the fact that once they have their licence they are not required to operate in Wolverhampton.

It has been branded a ‘joke’ by Shaz Saleem – who is the adviser for the West Midland Drivers’ Association, which looks after 4,000 drivers.

Mr Saleem said customers across the Black Country are being put at risk by the council’s poor standards.

Mr Saleem also said some taxi drivers were taking advantage of a ‘loophole’ in cross-border rules, which allows applicants to receive new licences in Wolverhampton despite having it revoked by other councils.

Cost

Drivers cannot apply online in Walsall or Sandwell. But they can submit their application online in Dudley.

However they are all more expensive than Wolverhampton.

In Walsall an application for a private hire licence costs £102, in Sandwell it is £153 and Dudley £242.77.

Licensing manager at Wolverhampton council Chris Howell said: “Wolverhampton council has invested in a state-of-the-art online system which enables us to process licences much faster than most other areas.

“This makes us an attractive proposition to drivers and we cannot turn them away, providing they meet our stringent standards.

"Our standards are among the best anywhere in the country and have been recognised by the Home Office which has urged other areas to adopt our guidelines."

Lucrative

It has proved lucrative for the council which made £1.29 million from taxi licensing in 2016/17.

Figures released following a freedom of information request revealed 4,168 private hire licences – for cars that have to be booked in advance by passengers – were issued to people living out of the city by the council last year.

It is a 6,847 per cent rise from 2013. Meanwhile 927 private hire licences were handed to drivers living in Wolverhampton.

In 2013, the council issued 60 private hire licences to drivers outside the city and 510 to Wolverhampton residents, the data showed.

Mr Saleem, the chairman of Dudley Private Hire and Taxi Association, said: “It’s a joke. Across the Black Country, this is a serious issue.

"Public safety has to be the most important thing.”

Liberal Democrat campaigner Mr Jenkins said: “The council is handing out licences like sweets.”

Deregulation

The Deregulation Act 2015 means private hire operators and drivers can choose where they apply for their licences.

All applicants are required to undertake a ‘robust’ driver training programme and pass a written assessment, the council said.

Figures also showed Hackney Carriage licences – for black cabs that can be hailed on the street – were dished out to 155 Wolverhampton residents last year and just 26 to people out of the area.

In 2013, the council issued 144 of these licences to city residents and 20 to drivers outside the city.

More than 4,000 taxi drivers from outside Wolverhampton have been granted licences in one year by the city's council – up from 60 just five years ago.


welcome to Uberworld

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

And there is me.thinking that councils are not allowed to make a profit from taxi/ph licencing..

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Oh look a flying pig

They don't make a profit it all gets diverted to paying councilors expenses and the pensions bill and creatively hidden in the accounts

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It has proved lucrative for the council which made £1.29 million from taxi licensing in 2016/17.

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Weymouth cabbies given Wolverhampton taxi licences as council makes £1.2m

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/loc ... -weymouth/

Wolverhampton council has handed out taxi licences to drivers operating nearly 200 miles away.

The authority has made a small fortune by processing licences faster and far cheaper than most other areas, leading to more than 4,000 drivers from outside the city registering there.

New figures obtained by the Express & Star show three cabbies who got licences in the city operate for Bee Cars in Weymouth, which is 188 miles away.

A total of nine drivers with Wolverhampton licences ply their trade 144 miles away in Winchester, while 74 drivers work for 652's Private Hire in Mansfield and 23 licence holders drive cabs on the roads of Cambridge, which is a two and a half hour drive from the city.

Other cabbies with city licences work in Manchester, Stockport, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Coventry and Telford, while hundreds of licences have been given to drivers operating in bordering local authority areas.

Labour-run Wolverhampton council made £1.29 million from taxi licensing in 2016/17.

A taxi licence in the city costs just £69 – making it one of the cheapest in the country – and takes a maximum of 20 days to get. In Dudley one costs £242.77.

Campaigners have accused the council of 'bringing the city into disrepute' by treating cab licensing as a 'cash cow', while taxi bosses said the authority's leniency on tests was putting public safety at risk.

Lib Dem campaigner Layla Abbes, said: "It is clear that the Labour council only cares about profit and is not focused on public safety.

Other cabbies with city licences work in Manchester, Stockport, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Coventry and Telford, while hundreds of licences have been given to drivers operating in bordering local authority areas.

Labour-run Wolverhampton council made £1.29 million from taxi licensing in 2016/17.

A taxi licence in the city costs just £69 – making it one of the cheapest in the country – and takes a maximum of 20 days to get. In Dudley one costs £242.77.

Campaigners have accused the council of 'bringing the city into disrepute' by treating cab licensing as a 'cash cow', while taxi bosses said the authority's leniency on tests was putting public safety at risk.

Lib Dem campaigner Layla Abbes, said: "It is clear that the Labour council only cares about profit and is not focused on public safety.

"There needs to be a change in the law so that only Wolverhampton licensed drivers and vehicles work within the area. We must end this farce of seeing Wolverhampton registered cabs all over Britain.

"The council is bringing the city into disrepute."

Shaz Saleem, the chairman of Dudley Private Hire and Taxi Association, said: "Wolverhampton licenses are everywhere and you can see that the council is intent on monopolising the market.

"They are making a fortune through giving out licenses through a system that is cheap and has very basic tests or non-existent for drivers.

"I doubt very much whether any of it is being invested in public safety. Their whole system is beyond a joke."

Wolverhampton council's licensing manager, Chris Howell, said the authority was 'an attractive proposition' for drivers because of its 'state-of-the-art online system' which enables the speedy processing of licences.

The council insists it has 'stringent' standards for private hire licences.

whose operators license are all these drivers working under? It has to be a Wolverhampton licensed operator.

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Grandad,

Correct.

But as Uber have now got their 'let's try and look a bit better' regions, the Weymouth fella wont be able to work that area under his long distance license.

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IDFIMH

One of the Wolverhampton lot was seen going the wrong way round the inner ring road in Mansfield last year.

The Romanians will rent a room in Wolverhampton and run it as a sateleite office

It will still require a license and possibly planning permission.

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Grandad,