Taxi Driver Online

Make it make sense

This requires careful reading, but like the other piece from Soton, there seems to be a certain illogicality about the council's reasoning here. But since I've never applied for an operator's licence (called a booking office licence in Scotland), then I'll leave it for others to comment


Licence fees for taxis to rise in Shropshire following committee approval

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/tra ... -approval/

Licence fees for taxis are going up in Shropshire.

The council’s Strategic Licensing Committee approved the recommendations at its meeting on Wednesday (March 5).

However, for some operators, it means they would have to pay more to renew their licence than someone would is applying for a new one.

For example, the latter for up to and including 31 vehicles and one base will cost £375 (up from £328), whereas a renewal for the same fleet would be £417 (up from £371).

However, for larger operators, it costs more for a new application to be processed than a renewal.

One private hire operator, who has up to and including 30 vehicles, asked why they are being treated differently.

“I honestly don’t care what the actual cost of any licence is but having a higher cost for a renewal of any licence than for a new license doesn’t make sense,” reads a letter to the council’s licensing department.

“I spoke to a licensing officer recently who attempted to explain that the difference was due to the volume of applications for renewals being higher than for new applications, and the overall ‘cost’ to your department is then split between the amount of licence applications.

“It was then stated, as I’ve heard many times, that the department cannot make a profit from issuing licences. There are surely many more renewals than new applications, therefore the cost per license would be cheaper for renewals?

“The concerning issue for me, is that the decision for these fees isn’t made by just one person. Meetings will have been had and the fees discussed at length, yet the outcome is a proposal that to most people would be seen as ill thought out and nonsensical.”

Speaking at the licensing committee, Mandy Beever, transactional and licensing team manager at Shropshire Council, said: “We incorporate everything to do with the processing of licensing applications, whether that’s officer time, opening post, and the proportion of the committee meetings that are held.

“Within that process, the renewals have an extra stage because we send a renewal pack out to trade. So that is an additional cost.

“In addition to that, we are allowed to charge extra fees to offset surplus and deficits within the renewals which aren’t attracted in the new applications.

“That is why renewals are slightly more expensive than new applications.

“Overall, we’re slightly in deficit with the taxi trade. Some of the reasons for that the legislation changed from a three-year operating license to a five year.

“Fundamentally, the council reduced the number of fees coming through.”

The committee approved the report.

Doesn't care what the cost of a licence is, but then writes a letter wittering on about the cost of a licence

Seems about as logical as the council here

Anyway, I'd guess the proof of the pudding is to ask whether any other councils have higher fees for renewals than for new applications. And shouldn't the council's logic here also apply to badges and plates?

Can't resist it


So how does that work - is there no 'pack' (or whatever) sent out to new applicants?


Do all councils take the same view?

Evidence, if any was needed, that some councils have no idea whatsoever what they are doing.

How can a council say it costs more to re-license than to issue a license to a new applicant? It simply can't be true.

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IDFIMH

I don't think they've got the memo at Edinburgh City Council - new private hire plate £786 for one year, renewal £427 for one year

But quite apart from the fact that, unlike Shropshire, they've got higher fees for new applications rather than renewals, these fees seem a tad over the top.

And in fact I think they've come down substantially. Remember back in the day when Edinburgh used to charge either £1,500 or £2,500 (can't remember which) for a new HC or PHV plate?

That must have been 20 years ago, so at today's prices that must have been something like £3/4k. For a one-year PHV plate

But some of these charges on the Edinburgh fee card

(To be fair, it looks like the plate fees above include the vehicle inspection fee. But there's a £129 fee for cancelling an inspection )

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/ ... cence-fees