Taxi Driver Online

another piece on already well trodden ground more stats and info on the bbc news website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44849364

If you've ever been in a cab and wondered why the driver's taxi licence was issued hundreds of miles away, the answer may lie in Wolverhampton.

The city has found itself at the centre of angry protests from cab drivers, who accuse the local council of making it too easy to enter the trade.

Cabbies from other parts of England and Wales say drivers newly licensed in the West Midlands are operating as far afield as Manchester and Southampton.

ow-drive through the city, calling on the authority to tighten rules around who gets permission to carry passengers.

They have taken similar action before, as have hackney carriage drivers.

Why are taxi drivers angry?

To date, the Labour-run council has licensed nearly 10,700 private hire minicab drivers. In a city of about 260,000, that's one for every 24 people.
But many are not working there.

In 2015 the law changed, meaning a private-hire driver does not have to live or operate in the local authority area that grants his or her licence.
And some say it is too easy to pass the test in Wolverhampton. The council strongly disputes this.

Is this a problem?

Many established taxi drivers say the Deregulation Act 2015 is threatening their livelihoods and claim a change in the application process is "risking customer safety".

Before April 2015, there were 852 private hire drivers licensed in Wolverhampton, according to the Department for Transport.

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

Another misstatement of the legal position - whenever did a PH driver have to live or work in the local authority area that grants his or her licence?

And even that's ignoring the slightly misleading use of the term 'operate', which presumably just means 'work' rather than 'operate' a PH vehicle in the (English) legal sense*.

And surprised Edders hasn't picked up on the constant misuse of 'taxi', 'cab' and 'cabbie' in the piece


*Of course, the word 'operate' would be fine in Scotland, because here it means a vehicle proprietor/plateholder (HC or PH) rather than in England, where it refers to a PH booking office.

if you rant at every one you'd never have time to work !!!

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