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Sussex
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:59 pm 
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John Davies wrote:
Sussex wrote:
I think the best bet is to alow the council to raise the tariff to whatever, then just get the meter chaps to set the rate at what the drivers want.

Provided it's lower than the council rate.


lol sussex you can't do that. Each meter is tested for yardage after it has been re calibrated. If the meter is not accurate then you won't be allowed
to use the vehicle until it is.

If the OFT and the DfT/DTI want competition or lower fares, then surely this is the only sensible way of doing it.

Yes, you could have the idiots going down the rank asking for the lowest price, but that's a recipe for disaster, I think. :?

Other than that I can't see it happening, and if Nigel's mates don't want a silly increase, then they should test out the OFT and DfT and see if they are true to their words.

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Sussex
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:25 pm 
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John Davies wrote:
lol sussex you can't do that. Each meter is tested for yardage after it has been re calibrated. If the meter is not accurate then you won't be allowed
to use the vehicle until it is.

Further to that John, I've just noticed that Rochford council have asked officials to look into drivers/operators setting their own taxi fares. :shock:
http://cmis.rochford.gov.uk/CMISWebPubl ... ment=11447

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John Davies
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:43 pm 
Sussex wrote:
John Davies wrote:
lol sussex you can't do that. Each meter is tested for yardage after it has been re calibrated. If the meter is not accurate then you won't be allowed
to use the vehicle until it is.

Further to that John, I've just noticed that Rochford council have asked officials to look into drivers/operators setting their own taxi fares. :shock:
http://cmis.rochford.gov.uk/CMISWebPubl ... ment=11447


Very interesting Sussex. The report should be very interesting.

Best wishes

JD
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John Davies
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:53 pm 
Nidge wrote:
John Davies wrote:
Sussex wrote:
I think the best bet is to alow the council to raise the tariff to whatever, then just get the meter chaps to set the rate at what the drivers want.

Provided it's lower than the council rate.


lol sussex you can't do that. Each meter is tested for yardage after it has been re calibrated. If the meter is not accurate then you won't be allowed
to use the vehicle until it is.

It is becoming common place now for councils to increase night fares in order to get more cabs out. However, if you have a serious deficiency in numbers, increasing the night rate isn't going to have much impact. If a council thinks it needs more cabs there is only one logical process. In this case Mansfield already has a deregulated numbers structure so I suppose the council is minded to try incentives.

I can't comment on whether those incentives are too high or unwelcome but I would have thought the council would have done its home work and researched this increase, before coming up with a figure of three pounds.

I don't subscribe to the theory that the council are putting up fares to drive Taxi drivers out of business. In fact I would go as far to say that the suggestion is ludicrous.

The council in its wisdom should have consulted the trade before reaching its decision but then again we have no way of knowing if it did or it didn't.

Nigel was complaining several weeks ago that he wasn't making any money in Mansfield; perhaps this extra tariff may bring about a change in his fortunes.

Best wishes

JD


John, the Council decided behind our backs to increase the fares to £3.00 kick up, as I said we wanted a modest 30p on top of every job plus 20p waiting time. Try charging £3.00 kick up in Mansfield you'll have no car left by the end of the night. We all voted against the Councils increase well 98% of us did.


When is this increase set to come into force? I suggest you ask those that represent the Cab Trade in Mansfield to write to the council and ask them for a meeting to discuss the proposed changes.

Best wishes

JD
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Nidge2
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:49 pm 
John Davies wrote:
Nidge wrote:
John Davies wrote:
Sussex wrote:
I think the best bet is to alow the council to raise the tariff to whatever, then just get the meter chaps to set the rate at what the drivers want.

Provided it's lower than the council rate.


lol sussex you can't do that. Each meter is tested for yardage after it has been re calibrated. If the meter is not accurate then you won't be allowed
to use the vehicle until it is.

It is becoming common place now for councils to increase night fares in order to get more cabs out. However, if you have a serious deficiency in numbers, increasing the night rate isn't going to have much impact. If a council thinks it needs more cabs there is only one logical process. In this case Mansfield already has a deregulated numbers structure so I suppose the council is minded to try incentives.

I can't comment on whether those incentives are too high or unwelcome but I would have thought the council would have done its home work and researched this increase, before coming up with a figure of three pounds.

I don't subscribe to the theory that the council are putting up fares to drive Taxi drivers out of business. In fact I would go as far to say that the suggestion is ludicrous.

The council in its wisdom should have consulted the trade before reaching its decision but then again we have no way of knowing if it did or it didn't.

Nigel was complaining several weeks ago that he wasn't making any money in Mansfield; perhaps this extra tariff may bring about a change in his fortunes.

Best wishes

JD


John, the Council decided behind our backs to increase the fares to £3.00 kick up, as I said we wanted a modest 30p on top of every job plus 20p waiting time. Try charging £3.00 kick up in Mansfield you'll have no car left by the end of the night. We all voted against the Councils increase well 98% of us did.


When is this increase set to come into force? I suggest you ask those that represent the Cab Trade in Mansfield to write to the council and ask them for a meeting to discuss the proposed changes.

Best wishes

JD


There is a licensing meeting on Thusday morning regarding the increase, we have been invited but cannot say anything. Many drivers have sent in letters of objection regarding the increase.
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John Davies
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:17 pm 
Nidge wrote:

There is a licensing meeting on Thusday morning regarding the increase, we have been invited but cannot say anything. Many drivers have sent in letters of objection regarding the increase.


If you have raised an objection I would think it more than likely that the trade will be asked for it's views at some stage of the meeting, perhaps near to the very end. I will be very surprised if you're not.

Best wishes

JD
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Tom Thumb
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:10 pm 
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I guess you have the usual problem where if you invite 2 hacks to speak you have 20 wanting their go.

If they send 5 representatives they will have six different viewpoints (the first one changing his mind by the time you get back to him.

Does the trade have an official body in Mansfield Nidge?

Does it have full membership?

Does it elect representatives to consult with the council officials?

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John Davies
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 12:30 am 
Tom Thumb wrote:

Does it elect representatives to consult with the council officials?


I was wondering about this myself but I took it for granted that the trade would have an official body that represents their interests which is recognised by the council.

I find it surprising that the licencing committee have not had talks with the trade over the implementation of this new fare increase. Then again, if there is no official representation who does the council talk to?

Best wishes

JD
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Nidge2
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 5:02 am 
Tom Thumb wrote:
I guess you have the usual problem where if you invite 2 hacks to speak you have 20 wanting their go.

If they send 5 representatives they will have six different viewpoints (the first one changing his mind by the time you get back to him.

Does the trade have an official body in Mansfield Nidge?

Does it have full membership?

Does it elect representatives to consult with the council officials?


Yes Tom we have the T&G and the local association who both work together.
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Cgull
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:22 pm 
Its even made the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 537824.stm
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Nidge2
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:49 am 
Well it was pushed through yesterday, all but 1 of the councillors voted for it, the trade weren't even asked any questions. We came up with a few options after the meeting,

1. Ignore the Councils increase of tarrif 2.

2. Have a Tarrif 4 on the meter, that will be the tarrif 2 we asked for.
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John Davies
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:51 am 
Cgull wrote:
Its even made the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 537824.stm


I wounder if Nigel could comment on the statement from the council which said "The council says local firms were consulted about the plans and seemed happy at the prospect of extra income".

It would seem, that the application for a more moderate increase from the local Taxi trade represented by Kewal Krishan from the Mansfield Taxi Federation, was completely ignored.

We have a situation where the council say they consulted with individual Taxi companies who gave them positive feedback and the Trade representitives are saying the complete the opposite.

It makes me wonder why there was no consultation with the Trade body on this issue and it leaves me wondering what kind of relationship the trade body actually has with the council?

At the end of that day I suppose some drivers will get to like the increase and perhaps as Nigel points out others won't. The Fare structure is only a maximum which you can't charge over, there is no law stopping you charging under, so perhaps a little common sense applied to awkward customers may be all thats needed.

Best wishes

JD
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Guest
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 1:08 pm 
John Davies wrote:
I wounder if Nigel could comment on the statement from the council which said "The council says local firms were consulted about the plans and seemed happy at the prospect of extra income".

What has it got to do with the local firms?
They only deal with pre-booked work, not rank or path work. :sad:
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Sussex
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:37 pm 
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Nidge wrote:

2. Have a Tarrif 4 on the meter, that will be the tarrif 2 we asked for.

Go on Nigel, give it a go.

But will all drivers adhere to it? :?

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Nidge2
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 9:52 am 
John Davies wrote:
Cgull wrote:
Its even made the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 537824.stm


I wounder if Nigel could comment on the statement from the council which said "The council says local firms were consulted about the plans and seemed happy at the prospect of extra income".

It would seem, that the application for a more moderate increase from the local Taxi trade represented by Kewal Krishan from the Mansfield Taxi Federation, was completely ignored.

We have a situation where the council say they consulted with individual Taxi companies who gave them positive feedback and the Trade representitives are saying the complete the opposite.

It makes me wonder why there was no consultation with the Trade body on this issue and it leaves me wondering what kind of relationship the trade body actually has with the council?

At the end of that day I suppose some drivers will get to like the increase and perhaps as Nigel points out others won't. The Fare structure is only a maximum which you can't charge over, there is no law stopping you charging under, so perhaps a little common sense applied to awkward customers may be all thats needed.

Best wishes

JD


John, the Council consulted 1 Private Hire firm who don't run on meters, the trade was asked and we rejected it. Every day it's becoming much clearer, the Council are trying to cripple us by increasing our prices this making us to expensive for people to use. Yesterday it emerged that our Council had given stagecoach another subsidy of £20,000, this is on top of £60,000 they've already had to run this late night bus scheme. It's called a loan to be paid back depending on how many people use the late night buses. The more people use the buses the quicker the Council get their money back + interest.

The lads were talking last night about a withdrawing services next Saturday night, it's a bit drastic but what else can we do?
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