Taxi Driver Online

Not often I laugh out loud at stuff like this, but

And it was only when I got to the end of it all...

Or maybe it's just me


Taxi fares to rise across Sunderland as drivers lay out reasons why - see new prices

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/pol ... re-5004627

Proposals to increase some Hackney Carriage fares and charges on Wearside have taken a step closer to becoming a reality, following a decision by city councillors.

Sunderland City Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee, at a meeting this month (February, 2025), agreed to launch a formal notice period for revised taxi fares and charges.

Under a Hackney Carriage licence, drivers can be flagged down on the street or accessed at taxi ranks, as well as taking on pre-booked work.

Sunderland City Council can prescribe the maximum fares charged across the city, with individual drivers also free to charge less.

Formal bids to increase Hackney Carriage fares have been approved in recent years, including at a meeting in 2022 and further increases were also agreed at a 2023 council meeting and a council meeting in 2024.

A new request from the Sunderland Hackney Carriage Operators’ Association (SHCOA) aimed to increase “some elements of the present Hackney Carriage fares and other charges”, a council report states.

This includes increases in what is called the ‘flag fall’, or fixed starting fee, across the city’s three main tariffs, which cover largely daytime hours (Monday to Saturday), overnight hours seven days a week and all day Sunday and a third tariff for the Christmas, New Year and Bank Holiday periods.

A request was also made to increase extra charges for luggage (excluding wheelchair and pushchairs which are free) from 20p to 40p per article of luggage, as well as increasing charges for dogs or other animals from 20p to 40p per animal (with the exception of accompanied assistance dogs).

The request included a 20p increase in the extra charge for “each adult in excess of two in number” and for the “summoning of a vehicle where the hirer has been informed of the charge”.

The waiting time “for each period of 60 seconds” was also proposed to rise by 10p, from 30p to 40p.

Council documents also confirm no variations were being sought for the ‘fouling of vehicle’ charge, which will stay at its current maximum charge of £70.

Trevor Hines, of the Sunderland Hackney Carriage Operators’ Association, set out the reasons behind the proposed increases at the Licensing and Regulatory Committee at City Hall on February 17, 2025.

A letter from the SHCOA, published on the city council’s website, cited the rising costs of “repairs, parts, labour, energy and taxi insurance premiums” and the “almost prohibitive cost of a replacement wheelchair accessible vehicle” as reasons for the application, which was described as “necessary and justified”.

Councillors were told that the fare increases sought were less than last year and only applied to the “flag fall” and that in effect, each fare would be “20p more” under the proposals.

“Things were different last year and the year before because inflation was rampant and I think you will all agree that it has settled down and that’s reflected in this application,” Mr Hines said.

“For instance last year, the increase in tariff one was 6.45 per cent, tariff two increase was 6.80 per cent and tariff three was 6.20 per cent.

“Whereas this year, because inflation at the time of this application was 2.5 per cent, the application on tariff one is 2.5 per cent, the application on tariff two is 2.0 per cent and the application on tariff three is 1.8 per cent.

“The reason for that reduction is because this application is only on what we call the flag fall, it’s not on the running mileage.

“So in effect, each fare will be 20p more.

“So if you just go around the corner from the taxi rank it could be £4 to 4.20, but if it’s a £40 fare, it would produce £40.20, which reduces the longer the journey and reduces the percentage increase.

“It does help taxi drivers if they have been waiting on the taxi rank for quite some time and they get what they call ‘just a little job around the corner’ as opposed to what they would call a ‘good job’ as it’s going a fair amount of miles, it does help on the flag fall.

“It doesn’t affect long journeys very much at all, I know an increase is an increase but on a large job 20p is, I don’t want to sound flippant, neither here nor there.

“If you’re paying £40 for a taxi, £40.20 in the grand scheme of things, isn’t very much.”

Mr Hines said the proposals had followed consultation with the taxi trade and vehicle owners / operators across Sunderland and Washington, and that the Washington trade were “very much in favour of applying for an increase”.

However, he added that some independents in Sunderland were a “little bit wary about it because they were worried about the threats from the likes of Uber”.

Mr Hines continued: “It has to be pointed out that some of the drivers that were concerned weren’t vehicle owners and they don’t have to pay large insurance premiums that have gone up recently.

“The servicing and parts and repairs have really become rather expensive to what they were before.

“All in all, we consider, rightly or wrongly, that this application is reasonable as it is 2.5 per cent maximum and inflation actually is predicted to go up to 2.8 per cent very soon, so costs will increase and will still be increasing.”

There were no questions from councillors on Sunderland City Council’s Licensing and Regulatory Committee and it was agreed to approve the advertisement of the revised taxi fares.

There will be a statutory notice period allowing for objections to be made.

If no objections to the variations are made, or if all objections made are withdrawn or resolved, the variations could come into operation as early as April 1, 2025.

So all that endless rambling on over 20p on the flag, basically

To be fair, to someone who's local to Sunderland, isn't in the trade and doesn't spend their life reading similar articles from elsewhere, then it's quite good explainer

But for us anoraks, it would put you to sleep...except that the longer it wittered on, the funnier it got

Isn't that just asking for trouble?

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IDFIMH

I like the fact that the trade there has annual increases.

So 20p might not be a lot if you haven't had an increase for years, but 20p on top of regular yearly increases is better than a poke in the eye.

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IDFIMH

Yes, Sussex the charge for 'each piece of luggage' always reads to me like a recipe for trouble, particularly when the charge is doubling. I mean, what's a piece of luggage and what's not?

And the charge per extra passengers is also doubling, which seems a bit inconsistent with the modest flagfall only rise.

Dogs and animals charge also doubling - but I suspect they're better behaved than many of the late-night, er, animals

Here's another cracker from the East Dunbartonshire fare consultation:


That's what we used to call a half-hundredweight, innit?

Surprised they're still allowed to quote imperial measures like that, if only because luggage and the like is I think normally in metric measures these days, assuming it's weighed at all?

Anyway, how do you actually know the weight of all the luggage under normal circumstances?

Let's all start carrying a set of scales around, and spend a few minutes weighing it all up on the rank before a job of half a mile

But would be well worth weighing it all for that extra 20p

Anyway, 56lbs is just over 25kg - I'd guess any luggage for me is generally a tad less than that; on the other hand, pretty sure many a 'student suitcase' (as I call them) would exceed 25kg for one piece of luggage alone

And reminds me of the likes of that Brighton thingy with the outside temperatures and idling - a 1C difference in temperature can make the difference between mild hypothermia in your cab, or a nice blast of warm air in mid-winter.

So for one of those student suitcases that I feel my bad back grumbling all night after I've lifted one, if I was in East Dunbartonshire I could at least add some extras for them. Assuming I could weight the suitcases. And all for 20p anyway