Taxi Driver Online

School run minicab firm fears new rules could put it out of business


THE OWNER of a private hire firm which provides school runs in North Yorkshire, fears proposed changes to a council’s licensing regulations will put him out of business.

Hambleton District Council is proposing to amend its Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy to restrict the age of licensed vehicles operating in the district to a maximum of ten years, with the exception of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

But Tim Ritson, who runs Carlton Cars (North Yorkshire) Ltd in Carlton-in-Cleveland near Stokesley, says if the new stipulation is accepted his 11-car fleet will all be off the road and his business will be unviable.

He employs 11 drivers, including his wife and himself, and two passenger assistants who travel with passengers with special needs. He said if approved, this amendment could put them all out of a job.

Mr Ritson says he is the largest private hire operator in Hambleton and for the past 15 years has been providing a private hire vehicle to North Yorkshire County Council, providing school runs, transporting residents with special needs and providing transport on behalf of social services.

He says his cars undergo rigorous checks by mechanics every three months.

“My vehicles are all an average of 12 to 13 years old,” he said.

“I can keep my cost of the service low because I’m not spending money on new vehicles all the time.

“My cars basically have the equivalent of four MOTs a year; North Yorkshire County Council carries out a check every three months and then there’s the MOT and taxi test; these tests are all carried out by qualified mechanics.

“Why should they be any more unsafe or dangerous than a new car?”

Hambleton District Council says it has drafted a revised policy to raise standards of public and private hire services in Hambleton.

Paul Staines, head of environment services, said if the age requirement was brought in, it would not be implemented on licence applications before January 2017.

“One of the proposed amendments is to introduce an age policy to generally restrict the age of licensed vehicles to a maximum of 10 years, although wheelchair accessible vehicles will not be subject to any such restriction," he said.

"If implemented, this would still represent one of the most relaxed age policies in the area.”

He added: “In December 2015, all 157 members of the hackney carriage and private hire trade were invited to make comments on the proposed policy revisions. The council received a total of four responses and these will be considered at a meeting of the licensing committee on 11th February 2016.

“Even if the revised policy is implemented, the council will still be required to consider each application on its own individual merits.”

source: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/l ... _business/

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

Now that says just about everything.

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

They were probably from the 4 people running the older cars.

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Grandad,

If his business is on the brink of collapse if he can't run very cheap cars perhaps he shouldn't tender such cheap prices then maybe he could afford to upgrade

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

Some councils have contributed to this situation by changing the criteria on which they award contracts to cheapest quote alone.

Does he actually employ them????????????????

Without doubt Cab Drivers are the most stoopid basterds walking the planet

No wonder Councils regard YOU MUGS with contempt so do the public

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

If your business model is to run old sh***ers doing cheap work, then don't moan when councils wish to raise standards.

Unless of course the only way you can run a business is to run old sh***ers, and in that case leave the trade to those of us that wish to earn a living wage.

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IDFIMH

Of course not.

Ban on minicabs older than ten years criticised by school run minicab driver

LICENSING regulations designed to stop minicab companies using vehicles older than ten years are being introduced in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire.

Hambleton District Council has altered its Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy to restrict the age of licensed vehicles operating in the district to ten years, after its licensing committee voted in favour of the amendments yesterday (Thursday, November 11).

But Tim Wrightson, who runs Carlton Cars in Carlton-in-Cleveland near Stokesley, says the new policy could put him out of business. He operates a fleet of 11 vehicles which on average are 12 to 13 years old. He provides a private hire vehicle service to North Yorkshire County Council, undertaking school runs, transporting residents with special needs and providing transport on behalf of social services throughout Hambleton.

He says he has to tender for the contracts, so must keep his prices low. As the vast majority of his work involves transporting children and other passengers along farm tracks and remote roads which damaged his cars, investing in new cars was unviable.

Mr Wrightson said his cars undergo the equivalent of four MOTs a year, and are checked by qualified mechanics every three months.

In yesterday's licensing committee meeting, principal licensing officer Simon Fisher said the age limit was being imposed because licensed vehicles could clock-up an average of 400,000 miles over their lifetime.

He told the committee: “Ten years age restrictions will reduce the risk of failure and modern vehicles have a much lower CO2 emission.

“Aside from the safety there are also standards, visitors to Hambleton might be surprised to see a 15 year old vehicle licensed by Hambleton running around with licence plates on it.”

Councillor Caroline Patmore asked the officer: “Have you considered a mileage cut-off rather than an age cut-off? I would have thought that’s far more relevant. For example, if someone buys a second hand car at eight years old it wouldn’t necessarily have to have that much mileage at the age of ten years, whereas a car from new if it’s doing 40,000 miles a year will have a lot of mileage by ten years.”

Mr Fisher said it wasn’t practical as the licensing teams wouldn’t necessarily be able to find out cars’ mileage.

But he told the meeting each licensing application would be assessed individually on its own merits.

“It’s not legal for our policy to determine the outcome, so we have to consider every part of the application,” he said.

“If our policy is telling us we should refuse his licence it’s then down to the applicant to convince us why it should be allowed.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Wrightson said there were no guarantees a decision would be made in his favour and whether his business would still be viable.

He said: “I can’t go down the road of forking out £100,000 for a fleet of brand new cars. In these days of austerity it will cost North Yorkshire County Council more to fill their contracts.”

source: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/l ... xi_driver/

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

Have they never looked at an MOT certificate then?

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Grandad,

Surely any business should look to renew its assets every so often? It's often tax-advantageous too. If they're bright enough to know how the tax system works.