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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:20 am 
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Cashless payment ‘must be available in Milton Keynes taxis’ says committee

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/pol ... ee-2448529

Taxis plying their trade in Milton Keynes will HAVE to offer a cashless payment option for customers, a committee has decided.

A meeting heard this week that some drivers had been unlawfully refusing to take customers on short journeys, with the excuse that they could not provide a cashless payment option.

Jason Agar, the council’s taxi licensing manager told the regulatory committee that taxi drivers themselves had been complaining that others had been refusing £3 or £4 jobs.

They sometimes have to wait a long time before getting a job but they are not allowed to refuse them.

Now they will have to put two council-supplied stickers on their Hackney cabs and risk their taxis being suspended if they don’t comply.

Some 75 of the 206 Hackney carriages in the city already provide for card payments, the committee heard.

Mr Agar told the committee that officers believe the new licensing condition is “reasonably necessary” and was good for the trade and for customers.

About one in three taxi owners had disagreed to the condition, but it was lobbied for by the Milton Keynes Taxi Association, the committee was told.

“We are now in the age of the app,” said committee chairman Cllr Mick Legg (Lab, Bletchley West). “Everybody does it that way these days, it’s the way society is moving.”

Cllr James Lancaster (Cons, Tattenhoe) said: “We are going to a cashless society, and this gives people the option. I’m in favour.”

The committee was also told that officers believe drivers will be safer if they don’t carry cash.

Cllr Legg asked what would happen where there were technical issues, or blind spots.

Mr Agar said: “There will be technical problems but drivers will know where they are when they take a job. They will also tell their customers.”

The committee’s decision will mean that the condition will come into force immediately.

But drivers will only have to comply when their own licence comes up for renewal. It will take one year for all the taxi fleet to be included because of the staggered nature of individual licence renewal dates.

Proprietors have 21 days to appeal but once that appeal period is over if they are found to be in breach, the vehicle will be suspended, the committee papers reveal.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:28 am 
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Quote:
A meeting heard this week that some drivers had been unlawfully refusing to take customers on short journeys, with the excuse that they could not provide a cashless payment option.

Jason Agar, the council’s taxi licensing manager told the regulatory committee that taxi drivers themselves had been complaining that others had been refusing £3 or £4 jobs.

Not entirely clear whether they're not doing the short runs because they don't have a card reader, or if it's just an excuse to refuse the short trips. So a bit like Fife Council's complaint the other week.

But MK addressing the issue by making readers compulsory, while Fife Council simply appealed to the trade's better nature O:)


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:45 am 
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Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
StuartW wrote:
Quote:
A meeting heard this week that some drivers had been unlawfully refusing to take customers on short journeys, with the excuse that they could not provide a cashless payment option.

Jason Agar, the council’s taxi licensing manager told the regulatory committee that taxi drivers themselves had been complaining that others had been refusing £3 or £4 jobs.

Not entirely clear whether they're not doing the short runs because they don't have a card reader, or if it's just an excuse to refuse the short trips. So a bit like Fife Council's complaint the other week.

But MK addressing the issue by making readers compulsory, while Fife Council simply appealed to the trade's better nature O:)
let me guess it hasn't worked :wink:

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:49 pm 
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I think we have the same problem up and down the country on all ranks where cards payments aren’t compulsory. We have several drivers here that won’t accept jobs under £10 if it’s on the card. They say there not refusing the job, just the method of payment. The council have issued a statement saying this is basically a refusal of a job and is illegal but until they organise a ‘test’ purchase or receive an official complaint from a passenger they still do it.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:23 pm 
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x-ray wrote:
I think we have the same problem up and down the country on all ranks where cards payments aren’t compulsory. We have several drivers here that won’t accept jobs under £10 if it’s on the card. They say there not refusing the job, just the method of payment. The council have issued a statement saying this is basically a refusal of a job and is illegal but until they organise a ‘test’ purchase or receive an official complaint from a passenger they still do it.


The minimum payment accepted by the card companies is one pound....

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 10:20 pm 
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Quote:
But drivers will only have to comply when their own licence comes up for renewal. It will take one year for all the taxi fleet to be included because of the staggered nature of individual licence renewal dates.

Proprietors have 21 days to appeal but once that appeal period is over if they are found to be in breach, the vehicle will be suspended, the committee papers reveal.

If the 'card' requirement is being put on the vehicle license then it has nothing to do with drivers.

Unless of course those drivers also happen to be the proprietors.

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