Taxi Driver Online

Private hire drivers go on strike as they demand £5 minimum fare in Milton Keynes

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/our-regi ... -1-8694432


Image: MKCitizen

Dozens of private hire drivers went on strike during the rush hour this morning to demand a £5 minimum fare.

Currently minimum fares are set by each company but the average is £3.20.

The private hire drivers, who congregated at Stadium MK, say their profits have fallen over the past 16 years due to increases in the cost of fuel, insurance, maintenance and council plating.

Hackney carriages (black cabs) in MK have a £3 start rate, (£4.40) for the first mile. £1,60 for the next mile and thereafter a charge of £2.00 per mile.

But MK’s private hire rate is one of the lowest in the UK , say drivers.

Stuart Day, general manager of Bounds Taxis said: ““We having a meaningful dialogue with our drivers. We understand their concerns.”

The drivers, who went on strike for two hours between 7am and 9am, are also asking for no fixed price village pickups and increased prices for airport runs,

Why don't they set up their own base and set their own fares?

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Grandad,

I think most of the working PH in MK are licensed elsewhere, some as hackneys.

That's why fares are so cheap as the spivs look around for the lowest standards and fill their boots with people desperate for any old work at any old rates.

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IDFIMH

Good luck with that bugger.

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IDFIMH

Striking private hire taxi drivers in Milton Keynes plead for public support despite disruption

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/our-regi ... -1-8703980

Private hire drivers in MK have apologised to the public for any disruption following their second round of strike action this week - and they have urged people to support them by using public transport during the strikes.

The drivers have revealed they are in a dispute with their bosses Skyline, Speedline, Bounds and other local taxi operators for alleged “unethical practices and violations of workers’ rights”.

The dispute is supported by MK Private Hire Independent Association. They claim some taxi companies have increased their rent to drivers by more than 100 per cent over the past 19 years.

The average rent drivers pay is now £100 a week. They also need to pay a hefty sum for their own radio equipment, saving their bosses thousands of pounds, says the association.

The drivers are asking for an increase in the minimum fare, which is currently £3.

A spokesman for association said: “The maintenance costs, fuels costs, repair costs, insurances costs, council’s badge and plating costs, together with living costs, have soared higher and higher since 2000, and radio rents went up by 50% percent. But the drivers’ taxi fare is still the same minimum fare of £3.00.”

He added: “These operators are very greedy. When we had a strike for minimum fare increase last Monday, on November 5, then these greedy operators proposed a fare increase of £1.00 in the current flat rate minimum fare, but also want to increase the rent of the PDA (radio) to £145.00 a week which basically means the increased fare we will be collecting from customers and paying the money to these greedy operators as rents.

“Drivers feel it is unfair that the taxi bosses can take home millions of pounds each year, yet the drivers often struggle to make ends meet and often stretched to work long shifts to cover costs and make less than minimum wage.

“After years of seeing declining incomes the drivers have been left with no choice but to take action. However, drivers aim to keep disruption to a minimum and hope to resume full service soon.”

The drivers say they are also facing “daily” attacks from the public and are frequently have their car windows smashed - which they must pay to repair.

They are also proposing to undertake customer service training voluntarily from their own expenses to increase the level of service in the future and hope to resume full service soon..

“The industry has really struggled in 2018 and the current situation can not continue as driver morale is low and is seriously impacting service levels,” said the spokesman.

He said drivers are proposing to undertake customer service training voluntarily from their own expenses to increase the level of service in the future.

The spokesman added: “Please make it clear to your readers that strike action will not disrupt any local school contracts supplied by the local council and a new improved service will resume soon.

“Until then we ask residents to use public transport services.”

Not sure that's the brightest suggestion I heard this year.

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IDFIMH

Investigation finds no evidence of bullying by private hire companies in Milton Keynes

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/pol ... -1-8849802

Self-employed drivers’ claims of bullying, discrimination and unethical practices against private hire companies have been found to be ‘unsubstantiated’ by Milton Keynes Council.

At the end of 2018 drivers went on strike and the Milton Keynes Private Hire Independent Association (MKPIA) tabled a 249-name petition with the Regulatory Committee alleging that private hire operators were:

Bullying drivers to collect a 20p hidden charge; not advising customers of additional charges; conducting unethical practices by dismissing a driver; collecting charges that were abolished by government; and being discriminatory and part of monopoly practices.

Jason Agar, the taxi licensing manager, said he believed that the petition reflected the “frustration” of private hire drivers with how tough the trade is since ‘deregulation’ of the industry in 2015.

This has meant, Mr Agar said, that many of the 3,000 private hire drivers in Aylesbury Vale head to MK to try to make a living. This has allowed the companies to keep prices ‘low’, he said. He said he had ’empathy’ for the drivers.

Companies, he said, had not been able to charge 50p for credit card bookings, so instead they have introduced a 20p charge that every customer has to pay. However, Mr Agar said there had been a delay in some companies updating their websites even though the new charging rules were being correctly followed.

The council wrote to city private hire operators Skyline, Speedline, and Bounds, asking them a series of questions.

Mr Agar’s report concluded: “There is no evidence to suggest that these operators have acted unethically; unlawfully; or bullied/discriminated against their drivers.

“If evidence of this behaviour had been uncovered then the operator’s licence would be reviewed in accordance with council policy.”

He added that the council has no powers to set private hire customer fare charges and to regulate financial contractual arrangements between operators and drivers.

FFS.

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IDFIMH

I'm sure MK will be keen to come down hard on businesses that pay hefty fee's into council coffers as well as the odd party donation possibly after all they make a fortune out of the Aylesbury vale drivers

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