Council agrees taxi licence freeze
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AN impassioned plea by taxi chiefs for help to keep their struggling trade alive has won over councillors.
Trade leaders have told of drivers working for next to nothing, desperate to feed their families.
Cabs are said to be idling in the ranks because there are not enough passengers. Now, they have convinced Neath Port Talbot Council to take the next step towards a three-year freeze on new Hackney carriage licences being issued.
The registration and licensing committee has agreed to carry out a survey to show whether there is unmet demand — a legal requirement before the moratorium can be considered.
Neath Port Talbot Taxi Proprietors Association secretary Bob Hoyles told councillors: "We all know there is no unmet demand. We are trying to protect our trade for the next three years. We have to do this to ensure the hundreds of people in our trade can continue to make a living."
Association member Simon Hopkins added: "Drivers are not making any money. They have no prospects, and you've got to have prospects."
Licensing chief Jim Sullivan said that, of the 153 proprietors sent letters asking if they supported the restriction, only 77 responded, though he pointed out 73 of them were in favour of it.
Mr Sullivan said no other authority in Wales had such a policy, and questioned whether the council should treat the taxi trade differently by protecting it during the recession.
He pointed out that no new applications for licences had been received this year. Councillors, however, said they had seen taxis waiting at ranks because there were not enough customers around.
It was pointed out that there were 280 hackney carriage and 25 private hire vehicle licences issued, meaning there were more than 300 cars covering a relatively small county. Councillors decided to go ahead with the survey and split the cost, estimated at £12,000 to £15,000, with the proprietors.
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