Part advertorial, part about getting the council to remove barriers to getting new drivers.
Makes it sound like they're doing a whole lot to help women, but in reality it doesn't seem very much. Feeble.
Doubt if Sussex in particular will be over-impressed by all this
Plymouth taxi company 'doing everything it can' to make women feel safehttps://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... ng-6278535
Image: Ben Wildman/Easy Cars Plymouth/Plymouth HeraldEasy Cars is a family-run taxi company based here in Plymouth, made up of Darren Burton, his wife Sandra Burton, and their sons Ben Wildman and Taylor BurtonA Plymouth taxi company which claims to have received 'countless calls from distressed and frightened' people has spoken up about the measures it goes to to make women feel safe.
Easy Cars is a family-run taxi company based here in Plymouth, made up of Darren Burton, his wife Sandra Burton, and their sons Ben Wildman and Taylor Burton.
The company said that it made the seemingly unique decision to continue taking pre-bookings on weekends after Covid-19 restrictions eased earlier this year, something not many other companies offered.
Ben Wildman, Director of Easy Cars, told PlymouthLive that the reason for this was an increasing amount of calls from 'distressed and frightened people', particularly women - some of whom had become somewhat stranded after a night out.
The move to continue taking weekend pre-bookings meant that those booking a cab with the company could have 'peace of mind' and a 'sense of security' when heading out for the night.
Ben explained that when someone books a cab with Easy Cars, they receive a text message which has the vehicle details, including registration, and advice to passengers to check they are getting into the correct car.
It comes after it was revealed that Plymouth City Council is asking people to contribute to an ongoing consultation, launched on Thursday 25 November, which seeks to get more people to join Plymouth’s taxi trade as well as encourage cabbies and operators to go greener.
The council says it wants to hear from passengers as well as those in the trade, adding that it is keen to make it easier for drivers to return to the taxi trade by removing the hoops they would have to jump through.
Ben Wildman told us that when lockdown restrictions lifted earlier this year, it quickly became apparent that there were 'not enough drivers left in the trade to cover the demand'.
Speaking about what Easy Cars does to reassure its customers, Ben said: "As the government lifted restrictions, it quickly became apparent that there were not enough drivers left in the trade to cover the demand.
"Due to countless calls from distressed and frightened people, especially women stranded after a night out, we made the decision to continue taking pre-bookings for weekends as opposed to other companies.
"We find that this gives our customers peace of mind and sense of security before heading on a night out. We have an SMS service that allows you to track the driver and our telephone operators will make contact to ensure that you are able to meet the booking or to warn you if there may be a slight delays."
en continued, adding that Easy Cars continues to work in consultation with Plymouth City Council on how things can be improved further.
Ben added: "As well as other operators in the city, we at Easy Cars have continuously tried to open a dialogue with Plymouth City Council as to how we can improve the situation.
"PCC are running a consultation on looking at removing some of the obstacles to become a licensed driver which would shorten the process considerably and improve the number of Private Hire drivers joining the trade. Namely the Knowledge of Plymouth Test which takes a while to study for.
"We believe that DBS checks, a Driving Standards test and the use of SatNav technology should be good enough for potential drivers to hit the road.
"Should the consultation agree with us, we then fear that it could take a good while to be implemented, when we feel that it’s something that needs to happen immediately to fast track the right drivers on to the road."
Getting more cabs out onto the streets of Plymouth is something that has been raised as a priority in recent weeks by the City Council.
Proposals designed to get more people to join Plymouth’s taxi trade as well as encourage cabbies and operators to go greener have been set out in a new draft Taxi Licensing Policy.
Some ideas suggested- Removing the limit on the number of hackney carriages and extending the period of time that drivers can return to the trade to three years without having to complete the drivers’ test and knowledge test.
- An enhanced age and emissions policy to clean up the current taxi fleet and work towards achieving the Council’s Climate Emergency Action Plan by 2030.
- A coloured livery taxi fleet of a specified green and white. This is would be for newly plated vehicles only, although from 2027 all taxis would be expected to have this livery.
- All hackney carriages must take card payments. Most taxis and private hire vehicles do this, but this move will help passengers to get home safely and not worry about getting cash to pay their cab home.
The consultation started on 25 November and will last 12 weeks and the Council wants to hear from passengers as well as the trade.
Councillor John Riley, Cabinet Member for Governance, Human Resources, IT, Community Safety and Licensing, said: ‘We are using this review required by Government to see what measures we can take to help revive the trade while at the same time looking at changes to help us meet our carbon emission targets.
“Plymouth lost around 160 drivers over the pandemic and we want to make it easier for drivers to return by removing the hoops they would have to jump through.
“By removing the limit on the number of hackney carriages Plymouth can have we hope to see new drivers join and work in the evening and night time economy. We want people to go out and enjoy what Plymouth has to offer and we want them to get home safely.”
The Department for Transport has asked all councils to review taxi policies to make sure they comply with the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards, which was published in July 2020.
In the meantime, Ben said that Easy Cars will continue to do all it can to help those feeling vulnerable or in danger by trying to fit them in, even if that means consulting with other customers to see if bookings can be moved around to accommodate someone.
Ben said: "For now we will continue to take pre-bookings and if we are called by someone we believe to be vulnerable or in danger then we will try to fit them in by asking other customers if they would willing to alter their timings etc. I know a few times we’ve managed to help people who really needed it, and that gives us the motivation to help improve taxi availability and safety of vulnerable people in Plymouth as a whole rather than just our own fortunes from a business sense.
"Until the number of drivers improve, we urge people to continue to take caution when walking home alone and rest assured we’re doing everything we can here at Easy Cars."
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