Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies call for cap on licences

TAXI drivers are breaking the law because there are too many cabs on the road.

The men behind the wheels of the taxis scouring the city’s streets for spaces want a cap put on the number of licences the council can issue.

While the council can regulate the number of hackney carriage licences, legislation introduced by the previous government prevents them from capping the number of private hire vehicles.

We exclusively revealed in Friday’s Worcester News how taxi drivers are getting away with parking on double yellow lines and over-ranking because legal loopholes have left enforcement officers powerless.

Taraq Mahmood, chairman of Worcester Taxi Drivers’ Association, said he was not surprised because of the lack of rank space in the city – there are about 330 licensed drivers.

“They are breaking the law but at the end of the day they have no choice,” he said. “Where are they going to park?

“The fuel prices have gone up and if you have got seven spaces and there are eight or nine cars then they will wait on double yellow lines for a couple of minutes to move along and get into the ranks.”

Mr Mahmood said he hoped recent moves to introduce more temporary spaces in New Street and Angel Place at night, as well as plans to do something similar in St Swithin’s Street, will help to ease the problem.

Ali Ahmed, owner of Nucabs, said he understood the council cannot provide a space for every taxi in the city but he thought there should be a cap.

“Every day the taxi ranks are a battleground just to get that £4 or £5,” he said.

“Until the council does something about it they will keep getting the same problems.

“I don’t want to park on double yellow lines, I don’t want to break the law, but when you go home and it comes to paying your mortgage and utility bills I can’t keep driving around.

“The fuel prices have gone up and it’s not doing much good for the environment.

“There aren’t enough drivers retiring so they are never going to solve this problem.”

David Clark, chairman of Worcester City Council’s licensing committee, said he thought there should be a cap as well but legislation prevents it.

He said that the only other option is to pay £10,000 to a team of consultants to carry out an independent report to see whether they think the trade is oversubscribed in the city, but the cash-strapped council will not fund that.

“The taxi drivers could pay for it themselves but even then that doesn’t mean they will succeed because there are other conditions to take into account,” he said.

“I do have some sympathy with them but at the same time that doesn’t excuse them for breaking the law.”

Worcester MP Robin Walker, a Conservative backbencher, said he would be happy to investigate the introduction of a capping limit if there was enough interest.

source: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/

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

They may get a better result if they ask for more rank spaces rather than a cap on the taxi limits. The council may see it as more financially beneficial to cap rather than to pay for more ranks

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

I thought the complaint was that there was no cap allowed for private hire.
You can provide as many rank spaces as you like for hackneys but this will not change the position on private hire licences.

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Grandad,

We are in a deep recession, there are fewer punters and more people wanting to join the trade.

That's the facts of the matter.

So people out there if you can't earn a living in the taxi/PH trade, then please f*** off somewhere else and earn a living there.

All this moaning and winging is going to lose us even more punters.

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IDFIMH

Where exactly would that be?

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

I don't know nor care, but moaning and groaning about their woes does nothing more than lose us punters.

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IDFIMH

Strange. We have a recession and get less punters but more drivers. Funny old thing them there market forces

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

You only get more drivers if your standards are weak.

If you have standards which mean prospective drivers have to wait 6+ months, and a cost of nearly a £1,000 then you don't get a mass influx.

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IDFIMH

Very christian.......that aside, are you telling me / us whether or not a driver moans affects cab usage?

CC

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

Be surprised if it didn't.

If I had a choice other than misery old cabby taking me out then I would take it.

Be it a mate, a relative, a bus, or even walk.

I suspect a large % of drivers don't give too much support to immigrants coming into this country and complaining about it. I suspect they would say if you don't like it don't come here.

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IDFIMH

Yes, but what you got?

And I dont see the relevance of immigrants.

CC

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

What I'm saying in relation to drivers is mirrored by many in the trade in relation to immigrants.

i.e. stop moaning or leave.

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IDFIMH

I'm sorry but I disagree.

The article suggests all that Worcester has done, with its policy is make things harder for the cab driver......last week they were bemoaning the fact cab drivers move off when they see traffic wardens ffs.

I tend to blame the cab trade....as TDO has published many tales about them working with their local authority......or thinking they were working with their local authority.....when to all intents and purposes they have been given pure lip service.....they even agreed to, then disagreed to....penalty points.

The fact of the matter appears to be that Worcester Council are total c*nts and taking the pi$$ with the cab trade.

How many extra, useful, rank spaces are there in the area?

The council unleashed a monster and it hasnt got a clue how to solve the problem they very probably allowed.

CC

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

Mmmm....... so you're happy to see prospective drivers priced out of the market? We have high standards here for both sides of the trade, it is the recession that is increasing the driver count as people struggle to make ends meet and people lose their jobs through redundancy etc. What standards can you put in place that would see a prospective driver having to wait 6+ months before getting a license, other than a delay in the return of their CRB

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

If the alternative is a poor standard of driver then yes.

If you want your manor flooded with part timers, or folks made redundant, then so be it.

But the harder to get into my manor the better.

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IDFIMH