Taxi Driver Online

TAXI DRIVERS JOIN FORCES TO FIGHT FOR LOST PROFITS

Cabbies in Bath have clubbed together to form a private hire business in a bid to retrieve lost takings. The hackney carriage drivers claim profits have fallen because Bath and North East Somerset Council handed out 20 new free licences earlier this year.

Previously, the number of drivers licensed to pick up fares from streets in the district had been capped at 89 and some drivers claim to have paid up to £23,000 for their plates. But under new Government guidelines, local authorities can only impose a cap on licences if they can prove that supply outstrips demand.

Alliance Taxis brings together 25 of the city's long-standing cabbies, who will now provide private hire services as well as picking up custom at taxi ranks. They hope to capitalise on people booking taxis in advance as they head into the city at the start of a night out.

The company, which will also employ radio operators and support staff, will be launched on Sunday, May 1. It will be based at the Wansdyke Business Centre, Oldfield Park. Barry Hopkins, a taxi driver with 28 years' experience in Bath, came up with the idea.

His daughter Rachael McLoughlin, 30, shares a cab with her husband Paul and is now Alliance Taxis' company secretary. The mother of five from Southdown said: "Because the council issued more hackney carriage plates, we lost a lot of work and takings were going down.

"My father had the idea to set up this new taxi business. "Now there are 25 of us, all from the original 89 hackney carriage drivers. "We started setting up the company at the end of February and we are going to launch it on May 1. "Hopefully, it's going to give the public another choice, another number to ring when they want a cab, and hopefully it will be successful."

Mr Hopkins said: "It's a business that we have carefully planned for almost three months. "We want to give a first class service to the people of Bath. "We've got well over 200 years' experience between us."

The 25 Alliance Taxis drivers are all shareholders in the new company. Its directors are Mrs McLoughlin, John Friend, Rod Browne, Ben Gillow, Glen Harrington and Rob North.

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IDFIMH

Now wouldn't it be funny if they applied for their PH license, and the council refused because there was no significant unmet demand?

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IDFIMH

8 years each

Captain Cab

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

They should read Gladden. It might save them some money.

Regards

JD

Maybe if Bath go WAV, then they want a PH firm so they can get out of cabs into nice saloon PHs.

Bit similar to the chaps who sell their plates for tens of thousands. Can't stand PH until they have no option.

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IDFIMH

You wonder why they never thought of it before

Captain Cab

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

I suspect what they're actually doing is forming a taxi despatch office and thus won't need an ops license on the principle of Gladden, but as is often the case the terminology used is a bit misleading.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I wonder if the 'PH' side of the firm will answer the phones should a SUD survey ever take place.

Methinks not.

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IDFIMH

The number of drivers wasn't capped, it was vehicles, just in case anyone chances upon this thread and may not be fully aware of things.

Also, the 'new Government guidlines' did not say anything about SUD per se, so the second sentence is wrong as well, assuming that by this the paper means the Action Plan of last year.

The test outlined in that sentence is basically the longstanding legal test.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk