Taxi Driver Online

Well this is a good example of churnalism - it's basically a headline, photo, and two separate quotes from the opposing parties. To be fair, they probably don't want to spend too much time writing articles during the festive break.

Anyway, makes a change from Uber, and the firm here is denying it's using drivers from Middlesbrough. But it seems to be saying it's basically copying Uber because it can't compete without using cross-border drivers, but Uber isn't specifically mentioned.


York private hire taxi firm under fire from other cabbies

https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/30 ... r-cabbies/


Image: Minster FM

A York taxi firm that is licensing its drivers outside of the city has been accused of putting standards and safety at risk.

The Independent Taxi Association says York Cars has started employing drivers from Middlesbrough, who are then sent to Wolverhampton to where the Knowledge test is 'streamlined', and easier to pass.

Tony Green from the Independent Taxi Association in York:

"It has to be a worry for everyone involved in taxi industry in York, whether that is in the Hackney or private hire sector.

"We have worked hard to raise standards, so to see those possibly undermined by this move from York Cars is concerning.

"Effectively what you have is a lot of potential drivers who really do not know the area - do not know the bylaws and routes and have very little understanding of how taxis work in York.

"So from a passenger-safety point of view, and from other road-users point of view, I would be concerned."

But Billy Iqbal from York Cars believes other taxi and private hire firms have it all wrong:

"Yes we are using drivers and vehicles licensed in Wolverhampton, and under the Deregulation Act 2015 it is legal for us to do so.

"We are meeting all laws.

"All drivers that are licensed through Wolverhampton Council are local to York.

"They have chosen to license in Wolverhampton due to the process being quicker, more efficient and up to 50% cheaper.

"With these being local York residents, they know their way around York.

"We are doing this in protest at York Council doing nothing about the out-of-town vehicles over the last four years.

"It is also a protest against the continued use of 'restrictive licensing practices', which hinder us from meeting the forever-growing customer demand that we face as a company."

I assume they would need a Wolverhampton PH ops license then or have the journalists forgotten to mention Wolverhampton (wolves= Wolverhampton wanderers fc) hackney licensed

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

As long as you have an office in Wolverhampton and an ops license from Wolverhampton.

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IDFIMH

Yeah right.

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IDFIMH

What if they are Wolverhampton licensed Hackney Carriages?

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Grandad,

I think all new Wolverhampton hackneys must be brand new and WAVs.

So I doubt they are.

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IDFIMH

Eh?

The word 'Wolverhampton' is used three times in the article.

Nothing really to suggest the necessary licenses ('triple lock' and all that) aren't in place, and that's not really what the article is about. And it's for a general newspaper readership, not for the anoraks on here. It's not a statement of the law made to a court, for example

And I think we've established before (as Sussex points out) that there's no real justification for badging/plating as HC in Wolverhampton to work elsewhere, unlike the PH option.

The piece might be a tad misleading in that regard, though, because it says the Wolverhampton knowledge is 'streamlined', whereas for PHDs there's no knowledge at all. I suspect 'knowledge' here is simply meant as the process to get a PHD badge. (And maybe PHDs badged in York do need to pass a knowledge test.)

As for 'Wolves', it's simply an abbreviation because of the limited number of characters allowed in the thread title - in any case, even in a headline for a newspaper article it's common to use shorthand for stuff like that.

It should be obvious by now, but I write the thread titles (which *are* aimed at the taxi anoraks on here), while the headline above the actual article is usually that that the newspaper uses on its website, which is aimed at the general public.

'Wolves' is simply shorthand for 'Wolverhampton' generally, and not necessarily anything to do with the football club:



In fact the council uses the name 'Wolves Council' for its Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/WolvesCouncil

Surely no one seriously thinks that when I refer to 'Wolves' in the context of taxi licensing I mean Wolverhampton Wanderers FC?

I do

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