Taxi Driver Online

Cardiff cabs leader criticises disability taxis boost

A taxi drivers' leader claims proposals to phase out saloon cars as a way to improve access for disabled people will put some Cardiff cabbies out of work. Mathab Ahmed Khan, chairman of Cardiff Hackney Carriage Association, wants the council to abandon the idea, saying it will cost drivers £8m.

Cardiff is consulting on the move so disabled people can hire a taxi "with the minimum delay or inconvenience". Councillor Ed Bridges said: "Nothing has been agreed or dismissed." Cardiff has around 400 saloon taxis among more than 950 in operation. Mr Khan is already working on a petition for his drivers to give passengers to reject the idea. He said more than 500 Cardiff cabs suitable for disabled passengers was sufficient.

Mr Khan said: "The disabled population of Cardiff is no more than 5% of the total population. Therefore, there is no shortage of disabled access vehicles to accommodate their needs. "If we were to replace these 400 vehicles, it would cost us something like £8m and there is no way we are in a position to stand that sort of money."

The prospect of saloon cars being phased out as cabs was raised by a report to councillors which noted concern about the standard of the ageing taxi fleet. It noted Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester insist that hackney carriages must be black cabs, as in London, while Leicester and Southampton specify taxis must be accessible for wheelchairs.

The report noted that it is "important that disabled people have the same access to transport to ensure social inclusion, in particular that a disabled person should be able to hire a hackney carriage on the spot with the minimum delay or inconvenience, and having accessible hackney carriages makes this possible."

Wendy Ashton, chair of Disability Wales, said the difference in people's impairments meant a combination of cars was needed. "There are all kinds of issues around taxis. "I have spinal problems so I can't use the London taxi-type cabs. I can get in but can't bend to get on the back seat, not without severe pain.

"I know people who prefer a saloon car. If they are not tall then it's easier for them to get in to from the road. "If people are wheelchair users and they have ramps to get in, sometimes the ramps are quite steep." Some vehicles designed to carry wheelchairs did not always cater for large electric wheelchairs, she said.

Council officers are to discuss the review with taxi trade representatives next week. Councillor Ed Bridges said no decision was made to remove the saloon car category at the recent committee meeting.

"Instead, the committee suggested further investigation was needed into reviewing vehicle type approval, in particular having a restricted number of vehicle types in a mixed fleet - e.g. saloon, multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), purpose built. "Arrangements are being made to initiate trade consultation with regards to the [taxi] vehicle testing regime as this was considered priority by the committee. "

Cardiff also has about 800 licensed private hire or mini cabs.

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IDFIMH

I've never been a fan of 100% WAV fleets the more variety the more choice as far as I'm concerned, but, I do think if they have a saloon taxi it should have a decent sized boot to put in pushchairs, wheelchairs or walking frames

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

Well if those who desk sit got off their backsides and asked the disabled what they want they'd find they want saloons.

Reasons?

If you have to sit in a wheelchair all your life it's nice to escape the sodden thing from time to time, sitting in a saloon achieves this, makes the person feel normal for a brief moment in time, also if a saloon driver isn't going to take a chair then he needs striking off, I have no problem with chairs and the folks that ride with me all say they hate a WAV cos it's like being a sheep in the back of a cattle truck.

So Cabby John, if you are reading I suggest you take my words around the rank and also to the LO as well, and lets not forget all those that are elderly who didn't bring their step ladder with them, who also don't like riding WAV either, anyone thought about these people? No I bet they haven't.

On that I 100% agree.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

I drive a WAV and I am aware that not all can get into them and can cause problems for those with differing disabilities.

To be honest I think that this is a back door way of trying to increase the seating capacity within the city and that they are using legislation to do just that. Anyone would think that we are awash with disabled people which is not the case (I literally picked my first one up last night in over 18 months) and that is the truth. The truth is that many of the disabled do not think ahead at busy times and cannot get a cab, so the brains of the city for this dozen or so times a year would have 950 + wavs standing around the city instead of encouraging the Private hire companies and the disabled to form a close connection that would suit both parties. Why Private hire? because they have the means of sending cars/cabs to the person concerned and of course do take bookings, whereas the Hackneys do not all belong to an office, meaning communication is not always going to be instant therefore a waste of time and money to flood the streets with cabs that will probably already have taken bookings.

Many of the hacks have to think as they go, and as you know they have to live off of their wits as they do not have an office to provide them with work hence the reason that they are pre booked, of which does not always go down too well as many customers are of the opinion that Hacks cannot take bookings, but they can.

Five years ago we had a fleet of 450 hacks! I would guess 400 cars and the rest London cabs, plus the occasional six seater giving us a seating capacity of approx 1875 ! now we have something like 4360 seating capacity i.e 400 cars x 4 and approximately another 2485 seats from six and seven seaters introduced since deregulation.

If the council get their own way this would increase to again approximately 6000 seats, decimating the work and lives of the drivers. Cardiff has recently had high unemployment figures published, and most of the employed is made up on the back of the national minimum wage, so all in all not a wealthy city in terms of quality jobs, so where is the money going to come from to pay for these vehicles that cost £25,000 incl of interest payments 5 years ago (based on my costs at that time).

The figure quoted by Mathab Khan is a little bit out as I calculate that the cost would be nearer to £10 million based on new vehicles being purchased ! Why new? well the council are putting out figures that a few cabs are failing spot checks because of light bulb failures and a few dented (by the punters) cabs are not up to (forgive the unintended pun) scratch. The police have apparently commented that ageing rover saloon cars are looking a bit ropey and are not good for the city image............so I guess we have got to be talking about new as they will not be wanting cast offs/second hand from other Cities purchases costing as I say £10 million.

The public protection committee by right should be looking into this, as drivers in order to meet present commitments are now working well over 80 + hour working weeks. Further financial commitment for those who are trying to stay in employment would result in a danger to the drivers and the passengers that they carry by being virtually forced to work extremely long hours. Perhaps someone should notify councillor Bridges and the licensing committee that that many drivers are working for less than the national minimum wage and that slavery ( it comes in many different forms) was apparently abolished by the last Labour government.

Perhaps he/they should get out more and see for themselves that all they have done is to create a parking lot for Cardiff cabs, or is this also a way for them to eventually introduce a congestion charge. They have created precincts in turn losing vast amounts of road space in doing so, further compounding the problem by creating bus lanes thus reducing road space and lengthening traffic queues, in addition congested by more traffic lights than anyone can ever wish to see or really needs. I suppose I am coming across as bitter and twisted or am I being just cynical, either way I guess it does not alter anything.


This is Councillor Ed Bridges pursuing his vendetta against Cardiff Cabbie's, and further trying to saturate the City with more seats, in order to clear the streets of late night customers as quickly as possible, at the same time adding even more to the congestion problem with larger vehicles. The real underlying issue being to keep crime off of the streets...............and to hell with the drivers and their families and has very little to do with the needs of disabled people.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

The way I see it is, all those places that insist on a WAV being provided increase the numbers of PH tenfold, therefore defeating the whole object, as owners have a choice of what rout to go down
Have they forgotten or do they know that the equality bill is still going through parliament, and WAV numbers if any, yes some will be required, but not the entire fleet, have not yet being decided.
Why not bring in the new London model, that starts in Jan 2012, where saloons and MPVs are restricted to 8 years max, and hacks to 15 years with no secondhand hack saloon or MPV being granted a licence over 3 years of age, from date of first registration
The above would be easy to introduce and it would improve the whole vehicle fleets appearances

The questions that I need answering really really desperately are.............

Why should one set of drivers have to pay up to £40,000 for a licensed taxi vehicle, whilst others up to £18,000?

And who decides?

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IDFIMH

We have customers mainly the elderly or disabled who specifically ask for a saloon car to be sent because it's easier for them to get into than a minibus/people carrier/ black cab. Even some in wheelchairs prefer a saloon to a WAV. That's their choice, if someone (anyone) wants a certain type of vehicle then that's what we'll send.