Taxi Driver Online

15 Feb 2008

Cabbie wants high court fight

A Norwich taxi driver is preparing to take his fight to introduce a new style
of black cab into Norwich to the High Court.

Norwich taxi driver Patrick Keenaghan first put in an application to Norwich
City Council for the Peugeot E7 hackney carriage to be introduced in the
city in 2006. He claims it is more environmentally friendly, cheaper and
has better disabled access.

The regulatory committee of the city council, which has strict rules on what
can be licensed and currently only allows the conventional Metrocab,
rejected the proposals, but Mr Keenaghan launched an appeal against the
move, which was also unsuccessful.

He has written to the council saying he is now preparing to argue his case
at the High Court to try and overturn the decision.

He said: “I am prepared to fight this decision all the way, because 93pc of
other councils in the country have this type of cab. Other people have took
councils to the High Court over this matter and won, so I am confident this
will be the same. The council is wasting taxpayers money with taking
something like this to court.”

In the past, Mr Keenaghan has argued the Peugeot E7, which costs around
£23,000 to buy, is cheaper then a current cab which cost £43,000.

The E7, which has five, six and seven-seat versions, is licensed to operate
in Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Sheffield, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne,
Sunderland, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and
Glasgow. In Paisley near Glasgow, the E7 is the main type of hackney cab used.

The moves to introduce the new cab have been dogged by controversy.
Drivers against the licensing of the E7 as a hackney carriage say the
vehicles cannot turn around in a confined space and could create
confusion among the public, as they look like private hire cabs. They also
fear it would lead to a devaluation of the black cab.

A spokeswoman for Norwich City Council said: "We have responded to Mr
Keenaghan's letter. We stand by our decision. It was made after taking all
relevant matters and guidance into account, and after significant
discussion the decision was made to retain the existing vehicle specification."

Source: Norwich Evening News

I hope Mr Keenaghan has a deep wallet. He may need it. (unless cad direct are funding him)

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Former taxi driver

He will not need a deep wallet, he will get legal aid as he cannot work due to there daft out of date rules.
he also has the best practice on his side and the recent disability document.
Its about time that the turning circle was dropped and if he wins his case he could set a precedence for its requirement to be removed once and for all

Naturally we wish Mr Keenaghan good luck in his application and if he requires any assistance or advice then I'm sure he will get it from TDO.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

As the Metro cab is no longer produced and has not been for over 2 years owners will not be able to replace there existing ones unless they go for the TX4 death trap, or the older TX2 thats as reliable as a chocolate watch, Both cannot take a full sized wheelchair unless its loaded side on and thats a serious safety issue and LTI stated that only the smaller wheelchairs could fit in the manner they are supposed to