£12,000 in penalties for 'taxi' drivers flouting the rules FINES and court costs for taxi drivers flouting the terms of their licences added up to more than £12,000 last year.
A total of 24 cases went to court in 2011/12, with drivers being penalised for plying for hire in the wrong borough, illegally picking up off the street, having no insurance and in one case, having no licence.
Of those, one was disqualified, 11 received points on their licence, 18 were handed warning letters and 10 licences were revoked.
The figures, laid out in the annual Taxi Licensing performance report, which went before councillors last week, show the number of Liverpool hackney carriage drivers sneaking across the border and plying for hire in Sefton has fallen in the last year from 85% of the total number prosecuted to 66%.
Hackney carriages are the cabs which can pick up punters off the street, while private hire taxis must be ordered.
But the number of private hire cabbies prosecuted for plying for hire in Sefton has rocketed from 15% to 25%.
Chairman of the North Sefton Hackney Carriage Association George Halsall said this could be down to the council being more vigilant.
He said: “The investigation teams are doing a better job at the moment. Sefton Council went 10 years without a prosecution.
“It shows the economic plight as well. Where in the past it was easier to find work, it’s not now.
“Hackney carriage drivers can pick up anywhere and private hire drivers aren’t supposed to pick up off the street but we all know that doesn’t happen. The problem that we have now is that a number of Bootle taxi drivers work at this end of the borough. Because we are all Sefton, if you have a Sefton licence you can work anywhere. There is a perception there is more work here.”
All Whites is one of the private hire firms operating in the town.
A driver, who asked not to be named, said that it is getting harder and harder to find work.
He told the Visiter: “There are fewer people going out and no-one’s got any money. There’s a lot less work in Bootle and Crosby so you get Liverpool and Sefton hackney drivers coming up here as well, and using the Southport ranks which makes things harder.
“People go to Liverpool for a night out now instead of Southport – they get the train for cheap and a taxi home from there, so we lose business from that as well.”
The taxi licensing team’s annual performance report revealed more than 2,000 vehicles were inspected between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012.
During the spot checks, 366 hackney carriages were stopped, of which 77% were fault-free.
A total of 77 ‘vehicle defect notices’ were handed out along with six stop notices.
Of the 1727 private hire cars inspected, 74% were found to be fault-free.
Some 369 vehicle defect notices were issued and 82 stop notices.
The amount of new drivers applying for licences was down by 1.6% on last year to 7,434.
Looking to the future, the report by director of built environment Alan Lunt said the council will continue to take a ‘proactive’ approach.
It said: “The service will continue its ‘plying for hire’ exercises and will target vehicle defects by a combination of checks at Compliance Testing Stations and on district vehicle checks.”
source:
http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/south ... -31126958/
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