Tom Thumb wrote:
I
As a crackpot idea what about a Council dealing with the issue of plates in a similar way as the G3 licences were issued in the telecom market.
They put them up to auction to the highest bidder. So if plates are going for 50K in your area the council decide to issue another 20 to the highest bidders. They can then use that money for better enforcement and keeping fees to all cabbies down.
Not really so crackpot Tom, in New York (for example) they issued additional plates at the going rate and the city pocketed the proceeds. In fact I think that was mooted again recently since the city is apparently in dire straits financially.
But in principle the idea is just another tax, so if you tax the taxi trade in this way, where does it end??
Best way is to get rid of the nonsense altogether, if people knew the facts about clause 1.147c and OFT etc, then the market for plates might well have collapsed in the past year or two, ensuring that everyone had a chance to recoup their investment assuming national de-limitation in the future.
On the contrary, it seems that the market for plates has been booming in some locations, eg Manchester and Glasgow, anyone have any concrete info from there or elsewhere??
Of course, some sellers who know the score like to keep purchasers in the dark about these things, not to mention LAs.
It'll be interesting to read what the OFT has to say about such matters.
(wish I'd stop saying that about everthing!)
Dusty