Taxi Driver Online

Shropshire taxi firms fear 216% hike in licensing fees

Controversial plans to hike the cost of a variety of licensing fees on Shropshire taxi drivers by as much as 216 per cent are to be determined by councillors later this week.

Shropshire Council is looking to make a series of major changes to its fees and charges for black cabs and other private hire vehicles.

The new pricing policies are to be debated by the council’s Licensing and Safety Sub Committee at Shirehall on Thursday.

It is proposed the changes would come into force from December 2.

The highest percentage increase would see the cost of transferring an existing black cab licence to a new vehicle rise by 216 per cent from £27.50 to £87.

The same type of transfer for private hire vehicles would go up by 123 per cent from £43.50 to £97.

The cost of renewing a driver’s badge every three years will also rise by 15 per cent from £136 to £156. Getting a first-year badge for new drivers, which covers a DVLA check, a first knowledge test and a first driver training assessment, is also due to go up by 23 per cent from £166 to £204.

Resitting the driver’s knowledge test is also due to increase from £62 to £77, a 24 per cent increase.

But the price of replacing a driver badge that has been damaged or lost will be slightly reduced from £12 to £10.

A report going to councillors said some of the planned increases had been altered following a period of consultation and objections from taxi drivers.

It said the original plans would have seen the cost of the driver’s badge three-year renewal would cost £172, but this has now been reduced to £156 – a 15 per cent increase in cost rather than the 26 per cent that had been planned.

The report added: “There is the suggestion, in several of the objections, that the council has made a profit out of taxi licensing in recent years.

“Officers are of the opinion that the financial analysis that has been undertaken is sufficiently robust to demonstrate that this is not the case based on the information available.”

source: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013 ... sing-fees/

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

Why does it cost more to transfer a PH licence than a HC one ?

That suggests to me that they don't have the correct information.

_________________
Grandad,

Because they say so.

_________________
Grandad,

£156 for a 3 year badge, if you loose or it gets damaged its only £10 to replace, so why not £10 for the original

How can there be a different price for taxi and PH transfers?

_________________
IDFIMH

That's what I said.

I know?

_________________
IDFIMH

Shropshire taxi licensing fees to rise by up to 216pc

Councillors have voted to hike the cost of a variety of licensing fees on Shropshire taxi drivers by as much as 216 per cent – despite complaints by cabbies that the current service is “atrocious”.

The council’s licensing and safety sub committee voted through a range of new pricing policies for black cabs and other private hire vehicles following a meeting at Shirehall yesterday, with the new fees coming into effect from Monday.

But the price rises were only agreed after councillors were addressed by several taxi drivers who opposed the changes and said the service they currently receive was not good enough.

Concerns were raised that the report agreed by councillors had indicated ongoing council budget cuts mean delivering the current level of service is “not sustainable in the current economic climate”.

Nicholas Cox, from Oswestry Cabs, said: “The service we get for what we are paying is atrocious.”

He said he did not accept the council argument that the current level of service was not sustainable given it is paid for from fees from taxi drivers.

“They are there to cover the service we are receiving, it is not connected with the economic climate at all,” he said.

David Wilson, a licensing consultant representing two of the county’s biggest taxi firms, Central Taxis and Diamond Cars, said that it is illegal for councils to set fees with the intention of making a profit.

He said: “Even if fees were to stay at their existing level, the council is bound to generate a profit and it is unlawful for a council to set fees with the intention of generating a profit.”

But Frances Darling, service manager for Safer & Stronger Communities at Shropshire Council, said it was not the case the council would make a profit.

The highest percentage increase will see the cost of transferring a black cab licence to a new vehicle rise by 216 per cent from £27.50 to £87.

source: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013 ... -to-216pc/

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

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