IT'S 'NO FARE' SAY TOWN'S TAXI FIRMS
TAXI operators in St Andrews have claimed they are working under different rules from unlicensed rivals.
They are furious that, while they have to meet stringent criteria before they can carry passengers, unlicensed city travel companies can come in and pick up fares while undercutting their prices.
Mhairi Wardlaw, spokesperson for North East Fife Taxi Association, said: "I believe there is an ongoing investigation between Fife Council and Fife Police into the travel companies operating in St Andrews.
"There are a number of them coming here. They see St Andrews as 'rich pickings' what with golfers and students needing transport to the airports but they don't have to meet the same criteria we do.
"Our insurance costs are very high and our vehicles have to undergo yearly council inspections. We have to have an operator's licence, all our drivers have to be licensed and those of us who do school transport have to go through the full disclosure procedure.
"These travel companies don't need a badge and any chap off the street with a driving licence could drive their cars.
"When they don't have the same costs as we do, they can afford to undercut our prices. But you just don't know who is actually driving the car you get into."
Fife Council is currently looking at preventing taxi firms operating cars more than eight-years-old and a report is to go before its community safety committee on April 14.
Ms Wardlaw went on: "Our association's main concern is that originally the eight-year rule was put down as part of the Safer for Travel for Women initiative.
"We couldn't see how a car that was eight years old was safer for women than a car that was 10-years-old.
"The council won't tell us what safety aspects they are looking for from our cars. If they did we'd have a better chance of addressing their concerns.
"Now they are saying newer cars are safer and they introduced the emissions argument.
" They say new cars are more environmentally friendly, but some taxi operators in north east Fife have gas-converted vehicles which have lower emissions than petrol or diesel."
Doug Ross, of Golf City Taxis, St Andrews, said everyone had seen travel companies which used cars without plates coming into the town to pick up fares, particularly students.
"Licensed taxi operators must start and finish their journey within their operational zone," he explained. "The travel companies are not doing that."
Fife Council's east area team leader for legal services Frank Jensen said anyone aware of any vehicles being operated without a licence should tell police or the council.
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