Taxi Driver Online

Source: Manchesster Evening News:

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/ ... 80963.html

Unrest in the ranks at cabs free-for-all
Ian Craig

PLANS to scrap restrictions on the number of black cabs in Manchester - and other cities - and allow a free-for-all came under fire from MPs today.

Manchester has around 850 hackney cabs and the council issues only 20 new licences a year.

But the Office of Fair Trading says there should be no limit on numbers and that councils should be stripped of control.

But the Commons Transport Committee said the proposals - being considered by the government - were "sloppy" and should be thrown out.

It believed that increasing black cabs would reduce the number of private-hire vehicles as drivers grabbed new plates.

If that happened, said Manchester MP Graham Stringer, a committee member, many people, including night workers, would be hit hard because they relied on private hire.

He gave as an example people in Hulme or Fallowfield who could not flag down black cabs. Cleaners working early hours would often club together and order a private-hire car.

"The proposals would damage the access of the poorest people in Manchester to private hire and would seriously damage the hackney carriage trade," said Mr Stringer.

"Our committee has concluded that the OFT was driven by ideological free market considerations, not by evidence on the needs of the travelling public.

"The committee said they liked the system of controlled increases in the number of taxi cabs which operates in Manchester."

Evidence

The committee said today: "We would need strong arguments before we were convinced that local authorities' powers should be over-ridden.

"Our investigation has convinced us that the OFT study is partial, doctrinaire, sloppily conducted and does not provide sufficient evidence."

Mr Stringer said that OFT officials who gave evidence to the committee were given a rough ride. "I've rarely seen professional witnesses so poor and unable to justify their case to a committee. They were humiliated," he said.

The OFT says scrapping curbs on the number of cabs would reduce waiting times for taxis, there would be more taxis per head and consumers would have a bigger choice.

Witnesses from both Manchester and Liverpool said the reduction in private hire vehicles was one of the strongest reasons for opposing deregulation.

The move is also opposed by the North Western Taxi Association, which includes the GMB and TGWU unions.

The Office of Fair Trading is recommending that the government lift the restrictions on the numbers of taxis in towns and cities, and remove from local authorities their powers to put the lid on the numbers.

But it accepts that driver and vehicle standards have to be regulated, usually by the local authority.

The M.E.N. reported recently that hundreds of nightclubbers were having difficulty finding taxis in the early hours.

The Oldham Street area plays host to up to 240,000 revellers at the weekends and many have to trawl the streets to get a taxi home. Some bogus cabbies prey on clubbers to rip them off, rob or attack them.

800 people on a waiting list, 30 plates a year, hmmm should be sorted by the year 2030

but the question is are there 240,000 people on the street during the other days of the week?

remaining on the fence

Captain Cab

Captain,
This figure of 800 on the waiting is always being trotted out. We have 900 cabs approx and only 1300 approx badge holders,so where that extra 400 comes from beats me.
The "list" in question is as far as I know not for perusal, it has also been changed that many times due to criteria changes etc that I should imagine that the majority of the people on it are like Man City's last win, a dim and distant memory. If memory serves I think at one time they actually"lost" the list and invited fresh applications.
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

Ged,

I heard it was 800, i know in Sunderlad there was about 250 people on a waiting list and when the council decided to issue licenses they had to go the 92nd person on the list before they actually found someone to take a license, so to a certain degree waiting lists need up dated reguarly.

However, I also dont know how long the waiting list in Sunderland had been there, may have been 1847 but i doubt it some how

regards

Captain Cab

on a nice cushon on a fence

The official line from the council is that once the present list is exhausted a new list will start.

Best wishes.

John Davis. looking forward to picking up my share of those 240.000 punters, lol

Manchester

John, I know what you mean when you doubt the veracity of figures, how on earth would we cope if to justify the Oft request that nobody should wait for a cab we put on the extra cabs to meet that figure.
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

Cope in what way? I'm not sure I understand what you mean Ged. By the way, whats this I hear about a Barrier going up at the airport.


Best wishes

John Davies
Manchester

We have three threads running on the select sommittee report.

can I call on the administrators to have a seperate forum like OFT has?

The reason it took so long to find someone to take the plates in Sunderland was that only applicants willing to licence a WAV were offered the plates.

It is also worthy of note that Sunderland is "zoned" and after so many "knock backs" from people on the waiting list the only the only incentive the council could give was to allow anyone using a WAV access to the whole Licensing area.

ALL of the plates to be issued were for WAV's as Sunderland has a blatant lack of this type of vehicle, if the council had issued saloon plates the "take up" rate would have started at the top of the list.

B. Lucky

John,
You mentioned 250,000 punters and I was following the underlying theme of the Oft i.e that punters should not wait for cabs. Therefore do we need 250,000 cabs , or if they are all lucky enough to "pair"off for the night we might manage with only 125,000 cabs.
In days gone by when I was willing and able to go into town it never entered my head how I was to get home. A silly thought, it seems to me that nobody wears a coat of any description these days so perhaps the pubs and clubs should be made to dole out the aforementioned items so the poor dears can wait like I used to do. Wrapped in my wooly scarf, ex army overcoat, mittens and my best clogs.
Re the Airport apparently due to management changes the new guy that is the go between wants to have a good look at the situation. I liased with him for many years and he is less confrontational than the incumbant.
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

You can even have your say on the matter here http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/comments/view.html?story_id=80963 I might go and ask how an experianced journalist such as Ian Craig can quote irresponsible figures of 250.000 punters congregating in and around an area the size of Oldham street.

The sad part, is that most people reading that article will probably believe it to be true.

Best wishes
John Davies
Manchester

John,
The Evening News and I agreed to disagree many years ago. I got sick and tired of writing/ringing to complain of headlines such as "Taxi driver rapist", "Cabbie in court over rape allegations" ,etc etc. You will know why I was complaining, but to no avail. I have now come to the conclusion that the public read only the header and have the attention span of a goldfish so leave them to it.
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

It's very similar to when anything goes from the trade to councillors, be it fare review or new vehicle/driver conditions.

You can have a 100 page report, giving the pros and cons in detail, but they will only ever read the first page.

If they tell you any different, they are lying.

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IDFIMH

So have we found a solution to the de-limitation problem by only licensing new WAV's?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I think that solution has been with us for years, it's just that some can't see the woods for the trees.

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IDFIMH