Taxi Driver Online

East Grinstead cabbies not "all white" with council's proposed policy changes



TAXI drivers face paying hundreds of pounds to change the colour of their cars in new council plans.

Mid Sussex District Council wants to make all hackney carriage vehicles white within ten years – meaning drivers face either buying a new car or having theirs sprayed at their own cost.

Either solution is likely to set cabbies back about £2,000, but the council says the proposals have been put forward to ensure public safety.

Speaking on behalf of hackney carriage drivers, Mike Revely, secretary of the Mid Sussex Taxi Association, said: "We resisted it strongly, because it means that we have to spend money to meet their little bit of social engineering.

"They claim it's easier to tell the difference between the two. I know they want a gleaming rank of white cars, but it seems a bit unnecessary."

The district council consulted more than 700 drivers on its proposed changes to the Draft Mid Sussex Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

A total of 105 responses were received, of which 63 per cent disagreed with the introduction of making all hackney carriages white.

Chris Allen, who drives a silver hackney carriage vehicle, added: "It's difficult, because if you want an older car that is cheaper to buy and run, you firstly have to source it. Then you have to find it in white, which is quite rare.

"In some respects I'm in favour of it, because people will know we are a completely separate entity to the private hires.

"Spraying or wrapping the car is quite expensive and I wouldn't really want to spend more than £2,000 on a car anyway."

District council cabinet member for health and community Councillor Christopher Snowling said the changes are being considered in the interests of public safety.

"A common problem with taxis is that sometimes the public cannot tell the difference between a hackney carriage and a private hire vehicle, so it has been suggested that hackney carriages be covered in a distinctive white livery," he said.

"It is important to know the difference because if a member of the public uses a private hire vehicle without pre-booking, they will not be covered by insurance.

"The council is keen to support local operators by allowing them plenty of time to make any necessary adjustments. It is being recommended that local firms be given five years to meet any proposed changes in regulations and ten years should they be required to update the livery of their vehicle."

Other proposals include a ten-year age restriction on vehicles, introducing additional testing for vehicles, requiring all drivers to carry insurance documents at all times, and restricting private hire cabs from parking near designated taxi ranks.

In East Grinstead, these include London Road, Little King Street, the railway station forecourt and West View Gardens.

The planned changes were presented at a licensing committee meeting on Tuesday, March 6. The report will now be reviewed by the Better Services Advisory Group on April 24.

It can be viewed in full online at www.midsussex.gov.uk

source: http://www.thisissussex.co.uk/East-Grin ... story.html

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

That sounds as if its PPP by council enforcement

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IDFIMH

Look on the bright side Sussex, you have just doubled the value of yours

So any car that actually needs replaced or resprayed will be over ten years old and will have been a taxi for ten years?

Cost them £2,000? Utter nonsense.

I hope they're talking purpose built here, but I've a funny feeling it's saloons.



Social engineering?

So any business operating in the real world is social engineering?



In other words white cars are more difficult to find. There's no need to make it sound more difficult than that.



Indeed, since clearly they're running teenage saloons there anyway

Let me guess, saloon cars in a restricted area?

Edit: Just had a look at the photos. It's teenage cars, dressed in jeans and restricted numbers by the looks of it

Saloon hackneys driven by yokels.

Big changes ahead for them methinks.

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IDFIMH

No need to refer to Dustyland in such terms

But looks like the chaps in East Grinstead have five years to comply with the white colour and ten-year age rule, and the ten year time limit seems to refer to the council livery

http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/media/Draft ... Oct_11.pdf

I wonder if the law commission will knock all these daft council proposals on the head that a few have come up with over the last few months

How pathetic, East Grinstead, hardly a poverty area and some drivers want to run a car that is 10 years old still, we've been colour and livery implemented for around 10 years now, and why not, it's to help the proper ppl in life make the right choice at the right time, some ppl really are as tight as the best rock band in the universe.

The only way it falls down is then PH decides to pick colours that under gaslamp look like the official colour, nothing major to sort but try getting an LO to enforce it, ours are silver so we have hack owners buying grey and shade of green silver cars, and PH buying anything that is shade of silver to fool the night eyes, simple solution would be in our case silver and PH must pick dark or solid shades, too easy innit.

But at the end of the day I shudder to think what picks ppl up in EG.

p.s @ Dusty, you are probably correct and it is saloon drivers moaning.