Taxi drivers could go on strike as council raise licence costsAngry cab drivers are threatening to go on strike after the price of their personal licence more than doubled.
Slough Borough Council (SBC) increased the price of renewing a year-long personal licence from £57.50 to £125.90 in September.
Both hackney carriage drivers and private hire drivers will have to pay the increased fee as they are required to obtain both a personal licence and a car licence by law.
The personal licence, or badge, is paid in addition to the licence for the vehicle, which costs £220.
Furious cab drivers insist they cannot afford to pay the increased fee.
Ranjit Ghoatra, secretary of the Slough Taxi Federation, said: “It’s a price hike of more than 100 per cent.
“It’s completely unaffordable for most drivers and we think it’s ridiculous.
“We are already suffering from a loss of trade after the council moved our rank from the High Street to the little side street where we are now.
“That’s been a big hit for us and now they want us to pay even more for our badges.
“We have had meetings with them to ask them why it should be so much but we don’t get straight answers.
“They tell us there are taxi drivers in Yorkshire who pay less than us, but the price of renting a house in Yorkshire doesn’t cost thousands of pounds every month like it does here.
“We are all talking about going on strike over this because what else can we do?”
SBC says the cost of supplying the personal licences were not being met by the charge of £57.50.
A council spokesman added: “The council had to review and set new licence fees this year as a result of changes to the law for driver and operator licences.
“All local authorities were required to do this.
“Cabinet approved the new fees in September and agreed they must be set to fully cover our costs.”
source:
http://www.sloughexpress.co.uk/News/All ... 102015.htm
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