Taxi Driver Online

Private hire drivers hit out at 'unfair' city centre restrictions

Monday, April 18, 2011

Cabbies are being treated unfairly by the city council, claims a senior figure in Nottingham's private hire taxi trade.

Ray Butterworth claims that allowing Hackney carriages – but not private hire taxis – to use bus lanes has angered customers and given Hackney carriages an unfair advantage.

Mr Butterworth – secretary of the Association of Nottinghamshire Private Hire Operators and Drivers, which represents more than 500 cabbies – says similar sole access for Hackney carriages on to Carlton Street at its bus gate junction with Fletcher Gate is also costing private hire taxi trade.

He also accused city council leader Councillor Jon Collins and transport portfolio holder Councillor Jane Urquhart of going back on a pledge in February to review private hire taxis' exclusion from the Turning Point scheme.

"We are not looking at it from a selfish perspective. We are looking at it from what a customer wants," said Mr Butterworth.

"They say to drivers 'Why are you taking me this way?' or 'You're ripping me off'. They do not understand that we can't go the same route as a Hackney carriage."

Mr Butterworth says a number of cities – including Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield – have no such restrictions.

City council figures show 2,353 private hire taxi drivers were licensed with the local authority as of March this year. There were 411 Hackney carriages.

The council says that only Hackney carriages are allowed to enter bus lanes and use the bus gate on Fletcher Gate, because they are wheelchair-accessible .

Since 2005, the city's Turning Point scheme has allowed only Hackney carriages on to Milton Street at its junction with Mansfield Road and Shakespeare Street and Lower Parliament Street at its junction with Glasshouse Street.

Mr Butterworth said he and other industry representatives were told by Councillor Collins and Councillor Urquhart two months ago that they would review the plans. He said he has heard nothing since.

But Mr Collins says the council is doing everything it said it would do.

Zulf Ali , of Nottingham Licensed Taxi Owner and Driver Association, which represents all Hackney carriages licensed by the council, said: "At the end of the day people have a choice: to use either a Hackney carriage or private hire car."

"A lot of the buses complained about Carlton Street, before the bus lane was introduced, because the private hire cars were parked up by the junction."

"All the time private hire cars are parking up in the city centre for half an hour or 45 minutes. Why? If it's a booking it should take only five or ten minutes to pick up a customer and then go. They are illegally plying for hire."

Source; http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/ ... ticle.html

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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.

hasn't this "row" been going on for over 10 years ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

cobblers, thats to say there are no WAV PHVs then?...

and a WAV hack can go that route even with able-bodied passengers?


id say thats reverse-discrimination....

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

He got it wrong about Leeds, there are restrictions on the city centre bus gates which hackney carriage are permitted to use and private hire are not. This has been ignored by the private hire and Joe Public for many years but will soon be in for a shock as new enforcement camera's have now being installed and put into action.

Yup, one of our fellow drivers had a meeting with someone at Licensing on Tuesday regarding private hire not being able to use the Bus lanes but Hackney carriage can. I think he was going to try the public safety wild card. EG: not being able to drop a woman where she wants to be dropped and as a result something may happen to her as she walks from the start of the bus lane to destination ??

We've been able to use the bus lanes for a long time here and with the exception of London I don't really see what the problem is

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

It has got to this point via the hackney carriage trade doing plenty to keep PH out of bus lanes, and the PH trade doing f*** all about allowing them in.

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IDFIMH