Taxi Driver Online

Almost didn't post this, because didn't want to put the effort in in case I put my head in the gas oven

Then I remembered I don't have an oven, not even an electric one, so that's fine.

(Actually, I have a microwave oven, but if I put my head in that it won't switch on )

Where to start with this, though? For a start, I thought the local LibDems have been doing their level best to get all cars off the road for the twenty-odd years I've been working here, never mind those awful taxis

But when it comes to the opportunity for a bit of virtue signalling in the local press...


St Andrews man Paul ‘socially excluded’ due to lack of wheelchair accessible taxis

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fi ... ble-taxis/

Wheelchair user Paul Bartlett has called on Fife Council to follow Dundee's lead when it comes to taxi licensing.

Wheelchair user Paul Bartlett has felt socially excluded since moving to St Andrews two years ago.

A shortage of accessible taxis makes it difficult to get to events and medical appointments.

And he says his daily life is severely impacted as a result.

The 45-year-old has multiple sclerosis which affects his arms and legs.

He often has to travel to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, which by bus would require two changes and take several hours.

The former sales and marketing executive has discovered there are just 88 accessible taxis in Fife, only 14 of which are in the north east.

Many of those are hired for school or social work contracts and don’t operate at weekends.

Fife Council is aware of the frustration and cites a shortage of drivers as part of the cause.

But Paul has enlisted the help of his MSP and MP to call on Fife to follow the example set by Dundee City Council.

Why are wheelchair users better served in Dundee?

Dundee has more than 300 accessible taxis, around 40% of its fleet and considerably more than the whole of Fife.

And it has a target to up the provision to 60%.

This follows the introduction of a new policy in 2003 limiting the number of new taxi licences but approving applications for wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Paul says: “There aren’t enough in Fife.

“The lack of accessible taxis and public transport generally is limiting the activities I can take part in.

“There is no requirement in local licensing to provide wheelchair taxis. It’s left to individual operators.

“There are a lot of people in St Andrews, and elsewhere in Fife, who are excluded from appointments – be it medical or social.”

‘It’s time to turn the situation around’

North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie wrote to Fife Council asking them to adopt the Dundee model.

He said: “”The policy in Dundee has unambiguously led to a large increase in the number of accessible vehicles there.

“And the contrast with Fife is plain to see.

“It will take time to turn the situation around but I think adopting the policy which worked in Dundee would start to make a practical difference.”

Meanwhile, MP Wendy Chamberlain said she was “quite frankly shocked” at the lack of transport options generally.

“This has to change,” she said.

Fife Council says officers will keep track of whether the changes in Dundee make a practical difference.

And they may then consider a similar approach.

Why is increasing wheelchair accessible taxis such a challenge in Fife?

Miscellaneous licensing lead Gillian Love says Fife operators have told of a number of challenges.

These include a fall in driver numbers since covid, the cost of buying new vehicles and ongoing running costs.

Gillian adds: “Wheelchair accessible vehicles in an operator’s fleet can be used by all customers.

“So their availability will be affected by local factors, such as the tourist trade in St Andrews.

“A number of the larger vehicles are also used for school contracts, which will also affect availability at certain times of the day.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and see if there are any improvements or changes the council can make.”

That must be why I struggle to even get on an official rank space the vast majority of the time, and it's weeks since I've seen any passenger actually waiting at a rank for a taxi

But, aye I'm sure there'll be rush of application for WAVs if they delimit, so they can drive round town looking for a rank space. Or wait 3.5 hours out at the station for a run (which I did the other day).

And where to start with the Dundee model? What about concocting a scam so they could allow saloon operators to sell their plates, a procedure they previously said would be illegal?

And forcing licence buyers to run EVs and put themselves at risk at public charging points, for example, while the former saloon operators cash in?

One of whom (an ex-SNP crony who never actually drove a taxi) seems to spend half his life on cruise ships, that's when he's not on Twitter banging the drum for Hamas and Hezbollah and calling for the destruction of Israel

In the Fife context, does WAV mean purpose-built hackney or just any suitable vehicle with wheelchair access?

Er. the change they're on about in the article happened in 2003


Don't think that's quite right (having read it closely).

It's a long time ago, and a lot has happened since then. But as I recall it, there was an all-saloon HC fleet, with a cap on numbers.

So in 2003 there was no limit imposed on *new* taxi licences (as claimed above).

But at that point anyone presenting a WAV could have a plate. I think that's when all the Doblos appeared, and they later upped with WAV spec a bit (is that the low/high-volume thing?).

Then they capped the whole lot, so new applicants couldn't get either a saloon nor WAV plate.

They later allowed the transfer (ie sale and purchase of plates), despite having earlier said that would be illegal under the legislation

But only on the condition that an EV was presented. So now there are six different HC plates, as I recall it - saloons, full-volume WAVs, and low-volume WAVs. And EV saloons, EV full-volume WAVs, and EV low-volume WAVs.

But apart from that, it's all quite straightforward

There's no WAV requirement in Fife, so I doubt the council has a WAV specification as such.

But as you'll be aware, every UK council has to provide a list of WAVs under the equality legislation (I think).

Not sure precisely how it's done, but when I reapplied for my plate last year I think you have to declare whether or not it's wheelchair accessible - a kind of WAV self-ID - and that is what the council uses to compile the list, presumably.

The list for the East Fife zone can be seen on this page here, about half way down:

https://www.fife.gov.uk/kb/docs/article ... r-licences

All but two of the 14 on the WAV list are run by one operator. And he's got more than 20 plates in total, and most are PH, and most are not saloons

But you'll see from the list that his WAVs are a mixture of vehicles from 4- to 8-seaters, so from likes of the Peugeot Premiers to those huge Citreon Relays and Peugeot Boxers, which must be some of the biggest vehicles around suitable for an 8-seater PH plate.

But deffo no purpose-built hackneys.

Funny thing about that operator, though, is that as well as the sheer size of the fleet owned by a single person (most around here just own a couple of cars at most) the other odd thing is that as far as I know the vast majority of those vehicles are used for council school and social work contracts. And certainly not the kind of firm and vehicles you'll see zipping round the town on Friday or Saturday nights, or even on a Monday afternoon. A dedicated fleet like that just didn't exist when I started in the trade here in the mid-90s.

In fact the chap who owns them started not long after me, and was a one-man band back then. And, ironically, for a spell ran the only purpose-built hackney that I've ever seen working the ranks locally. It was a Metrocab (that was 20 years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a 1980s model, or at least 1990s - it was certainly quite old), and you could hear it coming throughout the town centre

But that's no doubt why the chap in the piece has difficulty booking a WAV - the vehicles won't really be around at weekends and evenings, I would guess, but I'm not sure precisely how the operator works - they don't even have a website, as far as I know.

And of the other two WAVs on the council's list, one is in the town of Cupar, so presumably wouldn't do a local run in St Andrews.

So, going by the council's list, only one WAV in the area is available via a traditional-style taxi office

Oh look a wheelchair user who can't get a wav at the snap of his finger want's the council to use a pile driver to crack a nut.

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

Any councillor/MP/MSP/official that gets involved in the taxi WAV issue is a numpty of the highest order.

They are not viable unless you have a substantial contract that justifies such a huge outlay.

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IDFIMH