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Chester Taxi drivers faces deregulation chaos in city centre
Feb 27 2009 by Paul Mannion, Chester Chronicle
Chester Taxi drivers faces deregulation chaos in city centre
CAB drivers in Chester face a difficult future, fighting increasing driver numbers and fewer journeys.
And the battle is only expected to get worse.
With the costs of buying a black cab as much as £35,000 and an application for a private hire badge costing hundreds of pounds, prospective drivers are heading for trouble.
An exclusive Chronicle investigation has revealed that:
One black cab driver has had his car repossessed because he wasn’t earning enough to keep up with the payments.
Another has sold a brand new cab and bought a 20-year-old model over fears for the future of the business.
Private hire companies could see companies from Vale Royal and Neston and Ellesmere Port trying to take a slice of the business in the city.
Despite a campaign and protests from drivers warning that scrapping restrictions on taxi numbers would cause chaos at the ranks and kill the business, the council went ahead with their plans.
The authority believes that more cabs would improve the service for passengers at night and create more cabs accessible to the disabled.
As usual for the press inacccurate!!
The "repo" cab was in fact handed back to the guarantor for the original loan to buy the cab(and plate), the person concerned is now talking about buying a brand new cab (and free plate), the "20yr old cab" is actually 12yrs old and it was done more to get up the councils noses for deregulating.
Chester City Councillor defends Taxi licensing review
Feb 27 2009 by Paul Mannion, Chester Chronicle
COUNCILLOR John Ebo is chairman of the council’s licensing board which scrapped the restrictions in April 2008.
He defended the decision, saying: “There are about 535 private hire drivers in total, although not obviously all working at the same time, and there are currently 93 Hackney carriages.
“There are about 20 more Hackney carriage drivers, some are new, some have moved over from private hire and some of the existing drivers have taken the opportunity to buy a second car.
“I think that’s economic development, the sector is growing, they have to look at how they do the business, that’s not my concern.”
“I hope the high standards we have set will be maintained, we have got a good fleet with well maintained cars and responsible drivers.
“Under Cheshire West and Chester Council private hire drivers currently in Vale Royal or Neston and Ellesmere Port could seek business in Chester, whether that will have an effect or whether they will see Chester as a honeypot, who knows?”
‘Credit crunch is starting to catch’
Feb 27 2009 by Barry Ellams, Chester Chronicle
MATT Dalton is operations manager of Chester’s largest private hire firm King-Kabs. They have 320 cars on their books with about 120 working at any time.
He said: “If anybody thinks that they can make money in this business then they are wrong.
“We have got fewer drivers and we are reluctant to take more on at the moment.
“We have capped our numbers and we are constantly looking at the job count, which is down on last year.
“It could just be the time of year, but I would put it down to the credit crunch starting to catch hold. Town is deserted.
“I think Chester City Council is doing a good job, for example they have put a knowledge test in place, it is essential that the drivers know where they are going.
“We were all for the licensing board opening the numbers up. We needed more disabled vehicles and now we have about 10 Hackney carriages on our books.
“There was a demand that we needed to meet.
“To get a private hire badge you need to have a medical, which costs about £140, a police check, which costs about £40, pay £90 for the badge. It costs about £300 altogether.
“We have some concerns about other companies in the area coming but the council don’t seem to think it will affect us. At night I can see there’s going to be a problem.
“A taxi war is a strong statement, a lot of drivers just want to get on and do the job, but I think the council’s phones will be very busy.”
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