Taxi Driver Online

Plans for extra cabs put on hold

PLANS to put six more black cabs on the streets of Burnley were unexpectedly put on hold after cabbies insisted there was no room for them.

At a meeting of Burnley Borough Council's Executive committee, councillors were poised to grant the extra hackney carriage licences on the back of a report in October 2003 that said there was an unmet demand for the taxis.

The six licences were to be granted as soon as possible, with a further three added every year to a maximum of 18. However, after a long discussion, members took legal advice and decided to hold fire on the decision until a further survey has taken place.

The committee heard from the chairman of Burnley Hackney Cab Association, Mr Mohammed Ibrar, who felt the report was out-dated and an improving bus service had already taken many customers from the cabbies.

"The number of cabs on the bus station rank often cause congestion, and vehicles cannot always get past," he said. "We do not need the extra cabs, we already provide an efficient service. We have received no complaints and there is no waiting time.

"Six extra cabs would just be sitting in the taxi rank. Sometimes we are forced to park as far as the Litten Tree pub, with more cabs we would be up to the roundabout."

The drivers were delighted to hear that plans to enforce receipt-issuing meters in cabs look unlikely to materialise. They were concerned that the machines, to be brought in to resolve disputes, would hit them hard in the pocket, costing £600 each. Mr Ibrar added: "We only ever give people hand-written receipts once, maybe twice, a month. The automatic ticket meters are very expensive and not necessary."

A restriction on the age of cabs has also been put on ice. Council officers had felt that a limit of eight-year-old vehicles could improve the quality of the fleet, or 10 years old if they proved roadworthy. But the Executive agreed to defer the changes until April 2007 to give the association a chance to improve the MOT pass rate of vehicles, with a number failing due to "serious defects".

However, the decision came with a stark warning from Coun. Colette Bailey. "As long as the results come back with serious defects, I will feel we are not offering a safe service to the people of Burnley," she said. "If this continues I will not want to allow carriages to be older than what you are requesting."

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

So the moral of this tale is, if you're a weak council then don't bother proposing anything that the trade doesn't like, because you'll look even weaker when you have to 'put them on hold'

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

So a SUD survey says more plates need to be issued, but they decide not to issue them.

Now how much will I p*** myself laughing if the next SUD survey says they need 50 more.

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IDFIMH

Reminds me of another Lancaster based council.

Haven't a clue about the law of this land. Thankfully the courts did.

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IDFIMH

You guys are so quick to spin this to your way of thinking. What the article is saying is that thier will be a problem with parking spaces.

If more created parking spaces were created, when this situation gets resolved I am sure that the plates will be issued.

If they were taken to court for not issuing these five licenses they would not be able to use the excuse of no parking spaces as a defence. Do you not think they should have considered that before they made their decision?

JD

I also wonder how much drivers are selling their exsisting plates for?

i dont think its about spin clearly this council doesnt lnow the law
if thiers evidence of demand then they must issue the plates, period!

To people in the know, not a lot, to people not in the know, bundles.

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IDFIMH