Taxi Driver Online

Birmingham considers lifting front seat cab ban

March 18 2011

Birmingham's army of black cab drivers will be asked whether or not they want to take passengers in the front seat.

Safety fears have meant that, since 2007, passengers picked up in Birmingham have been kept in the back behind screens.

But cabs picking up in Solihull and other areas can still take front seat passengers.

A request from the Birmingham and Solihull Taxi Association to relax the rule was met with opposition from the West Midlands Taxi Association.

Now city licensing chiefs, caught in the middle of the debate, are to write to each of the city’s 1,400 cabbies to ask for their thoughts.

Mohammed Rashid, of the Birmingham and Solihull Taxi Association, said: “It is confusing for passengers at Birmingham Airport when some taxis can take six and some seven passengers. It is also possible to put a safety screen in the front. Drivers should have the option to take people in the front seat.”

But Simon Sahota, of the West Midlands Taxi Association, thought the change would have an implication on insurance.

“Many become hackney carriage drivers, rather than work in private hire, because they want that separation from the passengers,” he said. “If there is to be a change it should be for each driver to decide and only if they are aware of the risks.”

Birmingham City Council’s director of licensing Jacqui Kennedy said that, if a taxi was licensed to carry a passenger in the front, by law they had to accept this at all times – whether the fare was a family returning home from holiday or a stag party. “They can’t pick and choose,” she said.

The city’s licensing committee decided it should be up to the drivers to have the last word.

But they agreed they would only consider a change if there was a response rate of more than 45 per cent.

Coun Bob Beauchamp (Con, Erdington) said: “If we go down this route we are blurring the line between hackney carriages and private hire cars.”

Source; http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... -28358116/

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Why?

If some drivers want punters in the front why stop them having the choice?

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IDFIMH

I honestly thought that this would go through unapposed.

In fact I was gob-smacked that there was opposition to the proposal.

If I had known this was going to be contested, I would have been at the licensing committee meeting to support this VOLUNTARY idea, with the proprietor having the choice whether to be licensed for front seat passengers or not.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

So what if it does? So long as he hasn't got to pay it, it should be up to the individual drivers if they want to have passengers in the front.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!