Taxi Driver Online

Well who'd have expected this?


£2,000 grants to help Wolverhampton taxi drivers

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/loc ... il-chiefs/

Taxi drivers in Wolverhampton who have been significantly impacted by Covid-19 can apply for a grant of £2,000, council chiefs have announced.

Wolverhampton Council launched The Additional Restriction Grant – Taxi and Private Hire Grant Scheme to help drivers across the city.

It will see eligible drivers receive a one-off payment of £2,000. It is aimed at hackney carriage and private hire taxi drivers who live in the city.

Councillor Stephen Simkins, cabinet member for city economy, said: "Trade for Wolverhampton taxi drivers, like many other businesses, has been significantly impacted by the current lockdown and this new grant will provide a lifeline to them.

"Many small businesses across the city are in a similar boat and I would urge them to head to the business grants web-page and find out exactly what funding is available to them at this critical time.

"As a council we have ensured thousands of eligible businesses have had quick access to millions of pounds of vital funding to help them through this most difficult time.

Swiftly

"Working within the Government guidelines, we will ensure these grants get allocated as swiftly as possible as our city looks to recover from the financial impact of Covid-19."

Drivers must provide their badge details and they must have worked as a taxi driver for a minimum of six months to be eligible for the one-off cash boost.

Councillor Alan Bolshaw, chairman of the licensing committee, added: "This is a fantastic scheme that will help support many of our hard-working taxi drivers who have experienced great hardship during the pandemic.

"We are aware that this has been an incredibly difficult time for the trade and we will continue to do everything we can to help our drivers during this difficult period, within the rules allowed by legislation."

The taxi scheme is the latest of a number of grants administered by the council – which has seen £60 million paid out to Wolverhampton businesses throughout the pandemic.

Eligibility criteria and how to access the online application process for the taxi grant – and all the other support grants – can be found at http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/busines ... ess-grants.

People who need help or have a query should email business.grants@wolverhampton.gov.uk or call the business support phoneline on 01902 290242 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays.

Brass neck of this guy. More than happy for his licensing department to take a fortune in fees from thousands of drivers who work elsewhere, but they're left high and dry when they're on their uppers.

Criteria here:

Can you imagine how much they would have had to pay if the £2,000 went all all badge holders?

Might need the help of one of those Nigerian Generals.

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IDFIMH

The BBC is reporting on cross-border Wolverhampton drivers who've missed out. So nothing particularly new here now, just on a different scale because it's Wolverhampton

And, of course, on a different scale for drivers missing out because it's quite a generous grant

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... m-56331605

Of course if those Wolverhampton drivers working throughout the country licensed where they were working, then they might have got a few quid from those local councils.

Loads of sympathy for drivers working Wolverhampton who live just outside, but no sympathy for drivers working elsewhere but licensed in Wolverhampton. In fact I'm over the moon about it.

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IDFIMH

Have to disagree there

It was the Law Commission, Parliament and the likes of Wolverhampton's licence department who wanted drivers to view getting badged and plated as similar to choosing to buy a washing machine from Curries, Argos or Amazon. Essentially, just opt for the cheapest and easiest option rather than view the licensing processing as a function of local democracy intended for the public good.

(Whether that's precisely what the Law Commission and Parliament intended, that's what they've got.)

So if drivers, particularly those new to the trade, and directed by the operators, who are advised by 'experts', think it's like having competing DVLA offices pitching for customers, then surely we can hardly blame them.

(Don't like to bump older threads without good reason, but been trying to ration time spent posting, and forgot about this one, which I thought was quite an important issue.

Anyway, must dash, got a kettle to watch boiling, and some paint to watch drying later )

Laters...

Wolverhampton license best part of 18,000 drivers.

They restricted the £2,000 grant to drivers who live in Wolverhampton.

This article states how many of those 18,000 got the grant.

https://www.insidermedia.com/news/midla ... ant-scheme

You couldn't make it up.

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IDFIMH