Taxi Driver Online

Nothing particularly new here, but unusual bit near the end about a proposed change as regards booking cancellations, but which has now been dropped.

The U-word isn't mentioned specifically, but I'd guess it's about them, or another similar app-only operator.

But if the problem was really about Uber, not sure why it sounds like it was local drivers who were getting on their high horse about it


More criminal record checks for taxi drivers in Newport

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/ ... s-newport/

Taxi drivers in Newport will face more criminal record checks under new rules designed to improve safety.

Owners of taxi firms will also have to pass a “fit and proper test” and comply with Welsh rules on CCTV in vehicles if they are to continue trading in the city.

The measures form part of Newport City Council’s updated policy for taxi and private hire vehicles, with safety the key issue.

Drivers will have to provide the results of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check every six months – either by signing up for an automatic update service or by applying for their own checks – which allow the authorities to view criminal records.

The council’s licensing team will have to carry out 3,000 checks each year, compared to the current 500 it performs annually.

A report noted this could “impact on [the] workload of the team” but will “enhance the authority’s ability to promote public safety”.

Taxi and private hire vehicle owners will be subject to annual DBS checks as well as the “fit and proper” requirements.

Some other planned reforms of the council’s taxi policy have been dropped or softened, however, following a “well-attended” meeting with members of the trade last September.

Generally, the council intends to only grant new licences for vehicles which meet the latest exhaust emission standards for new cars, Euro 6.

But attendees of the meeting raised concerns this could end up negatively affecting people with disabilities, by slashing the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis on the city’s roads.

The number of accessible taxis in Newport has fallen by 45% in the past seven years, according to the council report.

Wheelchair accessible taxis will therefore be subject to a lower emissions threshold, Euro 4, in the council’s revised policy.

Taxi drivers were also successful in overturning a plan to legally require them to undertake a booking they had accepted “unless there is a good reason”.

The council said there had been increased reports of drivers cancelling jobs, “causing frustration and significant safeguarding concerns”.

But the council accepted drivers’ “strong opposition” to the plan, and noted complaints about cancellations “mainly featured around” one operator and had improved over time.

Councillor James Clarke, the cabinet member for regulation, is expected to sign off on the new taxi policy this week.

It's not the emissions policy limiting the number of WAVs anywhere, it's the costs and availability.

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IDFIMH

What an incredibly stupid suggestion.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, this has always been part of our driver conditions in Fife, and sounds more or less the same thing. I thought it was a fairly standard condition in Scotland, and sure I've seen similar ones in England as well.


Never known it to really have been of much relevance in terms of enforcement action, or whatever (although I'm sure it will have been pointed out to drivers or operators by the council when perhaps a customer has been let down on a prior booking).

Alternatively, it's no doubt meant as some kind of deterrent and guide to good conduct, effectively, rather than something that's frequently used in a formal process of enforcement.

And, of course, there's a 'sufficient cause' get-out clause for drivers anyway. I doubt if there's many cases of drivers simply not rolling up because they can't be bothered, say. (On the other hand, I doubt if 'I got a better offer' is sufficient cause in terms of an excuse )

Of course, maybe the condition is of more relevance in the days of Uber et al, but that's not a factor in Fife, and I've never heard of any kind of action in that regard elsewhere.

Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree here in terms of what it's all about?

(The condition above is specifically aimed at drivers, but there's a similar condition for 'the holder of a taxi licence' (and presumably for private hire). So I suppose who's responsible precisely might depend on stuff like contract law. Me, I just take a common sense approach, although the vast majority of my work is off the ranks.)

A driver isn't going to take a job and then not turn up for any reason.

The issue for me is if a driver accepts the job and returns it straight away.

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IDFIMH

Here we've got a disproportionate number of one-man bands or maybe a couple of cars getting together and handing out cards, and although even HCs here need a booking office licence if they have three cars(?) or more, it's sometimes difficult to know where these 'offices' start and stop in terms of numbers (it's a bit like the opposite end of the scale to Uber, I suppose, but a broadly similar issue - if a driver is working for Uber, Bolt and also trading under his own phone number, is he part of Uber, Bolt, an independent, or all three? (And I'm talking in terms of HCs in Scotland here, who don't need a licence to take bookings if they're truly independent, but do if there are three or more.)

But, anyway, it's all very informal in a way. And, for example, I don't think it's unknown for such drivers to take bookings for a £20 job, say, but at the last minute get an offer of a £100 job, say, therefore...

Or they genuinely can't do a job but make no effort to arrange an alternative nor to inform the customer to make alternative arrangements themselves...

That's not to say they're not obliged by the conditions to do the booking because they just have one or two cars - the obligation to fulfil a booking doesn't depend on whether it's a one-man band, or whether there's a booking office licence in place.

On the other hand, if there's just one or two of them they're less likely to be able to cover the job via another driver or firm, and maybe feel less of a responsibility to cover a job than a bigger office who are maybe a bit more accountable.

So pretty sure it does happen, and that's maybe why the condition exists, but whether it makes a huge difference in reality I don't know.