Taxi Driver Online

Wolverhampton taxi drivers protesting over licences turned away from meeting

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/loc ... m-meeting/

"What they are doing is morally and ethically wrong. They are destroying the lives of thousands of taxi drivers”.

These were the claims of a West Midlands hackney cab driver who says he has been hit hard by cheap and easy-to-gain taxi licences issued by Wolverhampton council.

Taxi drivers from across the Midlands staged a protest outside the Civic Centre on Wednesday night.



The men had travelled into Wolverhampton to stage the protest after a recent Freedom of Information request revealed more than 4,000 taxi drivers from outside the city have been granted licences in one year by the council – before heading off to work as far away as Manchester, Weymouth and Blackpool.

Just five years ago the council was only granting 60 licences to cab drivers, and claim the increase in applications is down to its new, speedy system.

One driver claimed: “What they are doing is morally and ethically wrong. They are destroying the lives of thousands of taxi drivers.

"Why should we suffer the detriment because Wolverhampton council decide to make a profit from a fast licensing application?

"Protesting here today is our last resort. We have emailed them, we have tried to talk to them but we are getting no response.”

The evening’s protest ended up seeing council security lock the doors of the Civic Centre so the party of more than 30 could not gain entry.

They wanted to sit in the public gallery of the annual full council meeting.

Councillor Alan Bolshaw, chair of licencing at Wolverhampton council said: "A small number of Hackney Carriage drivers from Coventry arrived in Wulfruna Street to protest about increased competition from the private hire trade. Coventry Hackney Carriage fares have recently been identified as the most expensive in the country. This small protest was about protectionism and self-interest and passed off without incident."

Bit of a sting in the tail in this piece. Does he really not understand the issues involved, or is he just trying to pretend there's no problem here. Nothing to see, move along now.

Methinks the councillor is acting more out of self interest I.E £1.2 million of profit to pay big fat expenses claims out of

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

I think tere should be an investigation into the licensing function activities not just Officers but Councillors on the Committee.

Taxi and Private hire licensing fees are not allowed to be used to make a profit nor be used to subsidise other functions of the Council.

Remember the outcome of the Cardiff case,fees payable for the different parts of TAXI and Private Hire licensing must be kept in seperate accounts and cross subsidising of licenses is not allowed.

He doesn't give a f***.

I suggest the unions simply withdraw their funding of the local Labour Party.

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IDFIMH

Someone needs to put in to ask a question at a full council meeting stating what the law says and then asking where the license fees are being spent. Then as a supplimentary question saying that if the fees are being used for anything elso then the auditors will be contacted with regard to fraud.
Well it worked for me when I did it.

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Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5

That was based on a survey by the website Regtransfers.co.uk, and generated several articles in the press. Coventry disputed the figures on the basis that the city is ranked 80+ in the PHTM tables.

Of course, different methods will produces different results. Regtransfers seems to take daytime trips of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 miles, and works out the average per mile on that basis.

https://www.regtransfers.co.uk/content/ ... s-compare/

Couldn't be bothered doing much in the way of calculations, but in Fife the figures are:

1 mile - 4.40
2 mile - 6.60
3 mile - 9.00
4 mile - 11.40
5 mile - 13.60

Which gives a total of £45.00 over a total distance of 15 miles.

So the average per mile is £3.00

Which to be fair is a more representative figure than the PHTM tables, which simply uses the £6.60 figure for the two mile trip. The Regtransfer figures smooth out any distortions caused by the flagfall distance and price. For example, the Coventry and Brighton flagfalls are the same, but you don't get too far in Brighton before the meter starts cranking up, so the one mile fare in Brighton is about 80p higher than in Coventry.

However, the running mile charge is £2.20 in Brighton, but £2.50 in Coventry. So as the miles crank up the fares converge between the two cities, and by 4 miles Coventry is dearer than Brighton.

At least that's what my rough figures are saying, but there's the thing - Regtransfers says Brighton is dirt cheap at £2.28 per mile, but Coventry dearest in the country at £3.11. My rough figures suggest they're about the same at approximately £3 per mile.

So whether the Regtransfers figures are wholly accurate or not is unclear. But the differences with the PHTM tables show the danger of relying on a single trip for comparison. The Regtransfers' methodology is far better in principle, but whether it's accurate or not is unclear.

And another drawback with the Regtranfers figures are that they only cover 25 of the biggest cities. Quite confident about my Fife figures, and they're £3 per mile, which is up amongst the most expensive on the Regtransfers list, but Fife isn't on the list, and there are no big cities in Fife which would qualify it for the list.

Which in turn further undermines the statement by the councillor - he says Coventry's the most expensive "in the country" on the basis of the Regtransfer figures, but they only cover 25 of the biggest cities, as compared to 300+ in the PHTM tables.

In fact if you look at the top areas in the PHTM tables they're mostly NOT big cities. As far as I can see the top 25 there only include two cities in the Regtranfers list - London and Brighton.

https://www.phtm.co.uk/taxi-fares-league-tables

Incidentally, saw this on the Liverpool tariff card - is that consistent with the legislation?



https://liverpool.gov.uk/media/9294/tar ... -final.pdf

That's why I prefer being PH...It's up to me what I charge and not some confused LA.

The four mile thing doesn't make sense.

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IDFIMH

Is this not an Officers and there for a Liverpool Council definition of Section 37 T.P.C.A. of the prescribed distance.

Now the councillors are at it, for a change

Taxi dispute heats up after Coventry cabbies protest in rival city

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/ ... r-14691015

Comments from the City of Wolverhampton Council have been branded "insulting and ludicrous"


The long running taxi dispute between Coventry and Wolverhampton has sparked back to life, after a drivers protest led to a war of words between the two councils.

Last week, a number of black cab drivers from Coventry protested outside Wolverhampton Civic Centre, claiming that licenses handed out by the Black Country council are damaging local trade.

And while council bosses at Wolverhampton have attempted to downplay the nature of the protest, a senior council figure at Coventry City Council has fired back.

What was the protest about?

Around 50 black cab drivers from Coventry travelled over to Wolverhampton last Wednesday, where they were joined by fellow drivers from across the Midlands.

The common issue that these drivers have surrounds the taxi licenses being handed out by City of Wolverhampton Council to drivers who are going on to operate out of neighbouring cities - such as Coventry.

Indeed, operating on Wolverhampton licenses is the loophole used by Uber drivers in Coventry - as the council here has not granted Uber a license to trade in Coventry.

And Coventry's black cab drivers believe that it is their wallets that are being hit by this, as Wolverhampton licensed drivers are taking fares in Coventry.

In October, CoventryLive revealed that City of Wolverhampton Council license 241 taxi drivers with Coventry addresses - and it was acknowledged that it is in this area that these drivers actually operate.

War of words

Following the protest, Cllr Alan Bolshaw, City of Wolverhampton Council Chair of Licensing said: “A small number of Hackney Carriage drivers from Coventry arrived in Wulfruna Street to protest about increased competition from the private hire trade.

"Coventry Hackney Carriage fares have recently been identified as the most expensive in the country. This small protest was about protectionism and self-interest, and passed off without incident.”

In response to this, Cllr Jayne Innes, Cabinet Member for City Services at Coventry City Council, has hit back, saying: "Private Hire Monthly's analysis shows Coventry Black Cabs are 84th in the country in terms of pricing - far from being the most expensive, we are roughly average for taxi fares.

"There are about 850 Black Cabs licensed to operate in Coventry. Just over 50 took part in the protest in Wolverhampton. This is clearly not a small number, and it is important to understand that those taking part in the protest chose to lose many working hours in order to do so.

"Cllr Bolshaw's allegation of 'protectionism' is both insulting and ludicrous. However I am pleased to confirm I, as Cabinet Member who oversees policy on taxis in Coventry, will continue to support Coventry's safe and professional Black Cab trade.

"Our Black Cabs are licensed to a far higher standard than cabs from Wolverhampton. In particular, we require our drivers to undergo Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness training, Disability Awareness training, and we check our Black Cabs every 6 months. I find it deeply worrying that Wolverhampton Council chooses to license taxi drivers on the basis of just one face-to-face meeting.

"I'm pleased to say that by protecting licensing standards here in Coventry, we in turn protect the safety of Black Cab customers.

"It is also important to note, that with the new Coventry-built LEVC electric cab , the Black Cab trade will also be helping improve air quality in the local area."

Previous ceasefire shattered?

In October 2017 , Cllr Innes and Coventry South MP Jim [edited by admin] met with City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment Cllr Steve Evans, and Cllr Alan Bolshaw, to discuss the ongoing licensing issues.

Following a meeting that was described by Cllr Innes as "frank", discussions appeared to be moving in a positive direction.

At the conclusion of these talks Cllr Innes said: “As Wolverhampton is granting licenses to taxi drivers that it will be up to Coventry City Council to manage on a day-to-day basis, the fees paid by Coventry taxi drivers are essentially subsidising Wolverhampton’s taxi office.

“I explained this subsidy is not acceptable, and Wolverhampton City Council has agreed to provide enforcement of Wolverhampton-licensed taxis in Coventry.

“Wolverhampton City Council has also agreed to contact their Coventry-based taxi drivers with any messages Coventry City Council needs to communicate.

"We need to issue messages to local drivers on a variety of occasions through the year, eg when there is a big event in the city, or when there are major road works.

“Wolverhampton council has also agreed to ask Coventry-based applicants to consider choosing to license in Coventry instead.”

So one councillor describes the fares as "the most expensive in the country" based on a survey of 25 councils out of the 365 which set fares.

Opposing him, another councillor says that the fares are "roughly average" because in another survey they're 84th out of the 365.

Ouch !!!!

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IDFIMH