Taxi Driver Online

Age limit plan for taxis operating across Northampton to be scrapped


CONTROVERSIAL plans to impose an age limit on all taxis operating in Northampton are expected to be quashed at the next meeting of Northampton Borough Council’s licensing committee.

The findings of a three-month investigation will be presented to the committee on May 8 to decide whether the town’s licensing policy on the age of taxis needs changing.

The existing policy introduced in 1997 says London-style Hackney Carriages must be less than three years old when they are first licensed, but after that there is no upper age limit. There is also currently no age limit for private hire vehicles.

Papers which will be seen at the meeting recommend the committee should not introduce an age limit for either private hire cars or Hackney Carriages and that the three-year limit on black cabs should be removed.

The chairman of the licensing committee, Councillor John Caswell (Con, New Duston), said: “It’s thought that the age limit would discriminate against a driver who has an older car but keeps it to a good standard. ”

Councillor Caswell added the committee had also been recommended to impose a standards test for all private hire cars and Hackney Carriages.

He said: “The new system will ensure the safety of passengers travelling in these cars.

“It won’t impact on the age of the car. It will test the standard the car is kept to in a tick-box style system.”

He added: “Not introducing the age limit does not signify the end of the appeal for safer taxis because the standards test will be introduced.”

Documents which will be seen at the meeting also recommends that the current policy regarding engine capacity is maintained.

Previously, the chairman of the Northampton Private Hire Association, Kevin Willsher, said he would be “strongly against” any plans to introduce an age limit on vehicles.

He claimed that implementing an age restriction would force up the cost of being a private hire driver.

Copies of the licensing committee report are available at www.northampton.gov.uk

The meeting will take place at the Guildhall in Northampton on Tuesday, May 8 at 6pm.

Anyone who wants to register to speak on the issue should call the council’s democratic services department on Northampton 837722 in advance of the meeting.

source: http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/ ... transport/

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

Unbelievable, all around are trying to improve standards and in comes the rent a wreck society, nevermind about standards, this will simply mean someone will roll up in a 12 yr old car that looks ok but sends out a message that cheap folks live here,

They had a chance to get rid of the poor half of the trade and improve their image, as a good low miles 3 yr old car can be bought for £10k or less and run for 3 years with a depreciation of 3k pa that's £60 pw btw why are they even moaning about it, methinks Kevin has an interest in a PH firm and more cheap seats is more radio pays for him, still at this rate we can have a fleet of Routemaster buses come back into service as well, hell why not some green goddesses as well, or an ambulance with a ships bell for a siren, am I the only one that sees this sort of thing as helping yourself become 3rd world in the end, lower it and cut it until there is nothing left,

What comes next, a string vest, swimming shorts and sandals complete with varicous veins and dodgy toe nails as a uniform, still I guess it could become quite retro when the bloke rolls up in his Cavalier to pick you up eh.

If the Vehicles up to scratch, safe and fit for purpose wheres the problem? at the end of the day the punter has the final choice, they can choose to hop in a newer vehicle or hop in an older vehicle, It's up to them.

To much wastage goes on these days, Newish vehicles are a luxury many Hacks cannot afford but are forced in to purchasing just because LA's which are Insulated from and oblivious to the current recession say so.

Not really Blooders, if a man wants to be involved he should show comitment, how about an age scale, if a job is £5 and a 60 plate car turns up the punter pays £5, but is an R reg Mondeo appears then it should drop to £3.50 as he hasn't the costs of the 60 plate, what ppl fail to understand is a car deteriorates with age, NCAP moves on so the car becomes safer for all, plus as a few of my fellow cabbies have found a £3k car can cost £5k pa to keep on the road by the time it's had to have a new part fitted several times and the time it took to fit, better to buy a car with manufacurers warranty and let them worry about it, cheap ppl cut corners imo, and as it's a public service I think the publc deserves more than a mobile shed for their money, but thats just me because I have high standards, hates a slacker, and I see too many of them now.

Imagine if we used your sliding scale for rail and air transport.......Some planes and Trains are 10 to 20 years old...and after each days usage they would need to reduce their price by a fraction to conform to this new age law pricing structure..

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Imagine if we used your sliding scale for rail and air transport.......Some planes and Trains are 10 to 20 years old...and after each days usage they would need to reduce their price by a fraction to conform to this new age law pricing structure..[/quote]


Trains & planes cost millions, you can't expect new ones every three years, a car however is not an expensive and a tax deductable outlay when working a 3 yr lifespan, all removing limits does is to open the door to chancers, this was explained to me by a man who was 45 when I was 20 in the game, iirc they reduced ours from 8 to 6 years old, I said like you oh no, he said if you have to invest properly you will be rewarded in the fact that the rubbish falls away and only the dedicated creme remains, it's time this Oliver syndrome got a boot firmly planted on it, ok in a rural village, but not for any major city or town with a good customer base,

Anyway I see no reason if a man is serious about the job to insist a car is no older than 3 yrs at first licencing and for that car to be gone after a max of 4 years service as a cab.

I see no reason why a vehicle shouldn't be under 3 years of age when first licensed but to only have it for 4 years seems extreme imo



There are drivers here that see no problem with that dress code, so much so they'll attend an appointment before the committee dressed like that and then wonder why the license department want to introduce an improved image and dress code for the drivers

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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 no longer feel this business is worth investing in......no age limits for me.

CC

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

The trouble is when you do that it drags everyone down for instance I bought my Wav brand new for £26000 then once I was getting a bit of work for it 3 other local firms went out and bought battered old transits for around £1000 and went after the lucrative night time and airport work undercutting my prices result I had to drop down to barely economical prices for airport work to hang onto it and lost most of the night time work but of course non of the others were wheelchair access so I retained the little half mile trips fron Nursing homes to the hospital etc. Net result I have earned less than half of the money i paid out in 4 years and will never again be able to buy a new vehicle i.e. it drags the standard of the whole fleet down and opens the door to the cut price johnnys with a £500 quid car doing cut price jobs and then all your customers expect you to price match !!!!!

better quality motors = better Quality fares

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

I worked northampton for abit and from my experience there is no work there as ph are so cheap that the hackney meter fare which charges £5 ph will do the same fare for £3 so punters don't bother with the hackneys.
During the day you'll see a que of cabs parked on rank and not even moving just sitting there hoping a fare comes along.
You some times can be waiting over a hour for a £5 fare and that was with the under 3year 1st registration but know if they scrap the age limits i can guarantee by 1 year the hackney plate numbers will raise by nearly 50% more as people who have other jobs will think yh il buy a 10 year+ cab for for a few grand and work weekends,
or whenever i am free then well see how that affects the trade as i know how its like there drivers working all day for £40,
even takings are so low as too many taxis on the road and increasing yearly people still are comming into the trade as the people who are working 8x5 hour shifts in factorys and other jobs who are getting hourly minimum wage know they might not make that in taxi but then they can claim maximum tax credits, income support, social security as they'll put down less income,
That's how it all works how else you see people living perfect lives earnings 30-40 in taxi.
Its all fraud guys!
And now with councils scrapping licence limits and age limits its getting worse for the people who want to earn a decent living.

Plan to put age limit on Northampton’s cabs thrown out



AN AGE limit will not be placed on private hire cabs in Northampton after officials said the move would “place a severe financial burden” on drivers.


Calls to introduce age limits on cabs working in the town were made in June last year after one councillor claimed half the town’s cabs ‘were not fit to transport chickens’.

But after a lengthy investigation into the issue, the authority’s licensing committee last night agreed no age limit should be brought in.

They made their decision after hearing arguments from a number of drivers that it was the number of times a vehicle was serviced a year, rather than its age, which was important.

Councillor Roger Conroy (Lib Dem, Kings Heath) said: “Everybody agrees that safety is the main concern, but we’ve also got to take on board that if we do start to change things it’s going to impact very heavily on many of the private hire drivers.

“They’ll become unemployed if we start insisting that they have to buy new cars and that won’t do Northampton’s economy any good at all.”

Some drivers of London-style Hackney Carriage vehicles argued for age limits on their vehicles to remain however.

The chairman of the Northampton Hackney Drivers’ Association, Jonathan Hills, told councillors that scrapping current legislation which meant Hackney Carriages would not be licensed for the first time if they were above three years old, would lead to Northampton being flooded with older vehicles.

He said: “We’d see a large increase in the number of Hackney Carriages in Northampton and standards would drop as older vehicles were introduced.

“The town centre is already saturated with Hackney Carriages and any more would just add to the chaos.”

The council committee decided to delay making a decision on any change to rules for Hackney Carriage vehicles.

It will also delay plans to introduce fines for drivers whose cars do not meet standards set by the council.

The fines will not be introduced until further consultation has been carried out with drivers. That process is expected to take about six months for the council to complete.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/ ... -1-3822009

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

What fines which they have no powers to issue?

That is for the next few years until the T&G New Cab Act comes in.

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IDFIMH

You mean the one they wanted till i pointed out the them a local authority cannot attach endorsements to driving licenses.....or fine people?

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