Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers disagree with rise in tariff as it's not enough

TAXI drivers across Oxfordshire are upset that proposals to increase journeys fares are “not enough to compensate for the rising cost of living”.

Vale of White Horse District Council have proposed rising the minimum cost of taxi journeys from £4.70 to £5.50 and the price per mile from £2.30 to £2.70.

The proposals are currently in the public consultation stage and are due to be implemented in August.

However, taxi drivers believe the proposal is not a “representative increase of the cost of living today”.

Jason Atherton, the managing director of Abingdon Taxis, said drivers are struggling with the rising cost of fuel.

He and other drivers would like to the see the minimum cost rise to £6 and the price per mile to be £3 with an increase when working “ungodly hours”.

“We’re suffering with fuel at almost £2 per litre,” he said. “We haven’t had an increase since January 2014 and the council have said this proposal has been calculated from data over the last eight years but it’s just not possible.

“It doesn’t take into account the price of fuel and the cost of vehicle maintenance. If they had done their job properly, we could have had a meeting before the consultation was put together.

“My fuel prices have gone through the roof and I have to pay my bills as well as everyone else - I have to earn my living.

“They don’t set the charges for buses or trains and look how much train prices have increased. We need to get some support.

“There is a whole wrath of absolutely terrible work by the council which is acting like a dictatorship.

“There is also a 270 per cent increase in licence fee for low emission vehicles but the council said they were just following guidelines. Which guidelines would remove any incentive to run an environmentally friendly vehicle on the roads for 18 hours a day?”

The council arranged a public meeting yesterday (05) for drivers to come and express their concerns. However, the council allegedly sent the drivers to the wrong meeting place leaving them waiting for more than 40 minutes.

Speaking before the meeting, Mr Atherton said: “We’re all up in arms about what they’re proposing anyway and they haven’t even been bothered to show up.

“There are about 20 people waiting for the council. All these people have given up their time when they should be running their businesses.”

A spokesperson for Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We are mindful of the challenges that everyone, including taxi drivers, is facing with the cost-of-living increases and are therefore open to reviewing the tariff again in a year’s time.

"Around 30 people attended our recent drop-in session to find out more and to provide their feedback on the proposals. Unfortunately, an error on the consultation letter resulted in some drivers being directed to the wrong community centre. We are sorry for any inconvenience this caused on the day."

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IDFIMH

I suspect many in the UK's taxi trade would be delighted if their council offered them that.

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IDFIMH

Eight years since the last fare rise ????? This is what happens when you leave it that long. I thought ours was bad at four years. But in our defence, the pandemic arrived and when lock-down ended the last thing people wanted to see was the local rags headlines “Taxis fares being hiked up!”