Taxi Driver Online

Sussex posted a link to the first article here in another thread, but there's been an interesting response, so maybe a good idea to post both articles in full in a separate thread

Of course, the Labour councillor and prospective MP's piece did obviously look like thinly-veiled politicking. And his critique of Wolves-plated cars working in Harlow was unremarkable, in that we've seen numerous similar takes from numerous locations for quite a few years now.

However, the licensing chair in Harlow is a Tory, and obviously takes the view that everything is rosy in the garden. Whether he genuinely thinks that or not isn't clear, but he's certainly not happy about the Labour councillor's intervention. But his contribution certainly looks like it's full of spin and selective details etc.

Anyway, the first contribution from Labour is obviously broad-brush in nature, and uses the t-word generically, but it's obviously Wolves-badged and -plated private hire he's talking about. As is made clear in the second piece, and it's more technical rather than broad-brush.

(After the preamble in both pieces, the rest of it looks like direct quotes from the two politicians. To that extent there should be quotation marks at the start of each paragraph, but there isn't. Why I'm not sure, but pretty sure there should be. Anyways...)


Harlow Labour leader meets with Harlow Taxi drivers over licensing concerns

https://www.yourharlow.com/2023/09/01/h ... -concerns/

THE LEADER OF Harlow Labour and candidate at the next General Election has met with Harlow Taxi officials over licensing concerns.

Councillor Chris Vince said: “Last weekend I met with representatives of the Harlow Licensed Drivers Welfare association with the on going issue facing taxi drivers who have been licensed in the town.

For a long time Harlow Council have demanded high standards in terms of driver knowledge and condition of vehicles, in fact higher than the national standard. However, a loop hole caused by this Conservative government’s 2015 de-regulation bill has put both of these things in jeopardy.

It now appears drivers can legally get licenses from Wolverhampton and use them to operate in our town and are already doing so. These licences are cheaper and also require a lower standard with no knowledge test at all. If you get a taxi driver who is reliant on a sat nav (which may take the shortest but not cheapest route) this could be why.

The additional issue is that Harlow council’s licensing team cannot regulate these taxis. Drivers who have a licence from Harlow were subject to regular checks, if you have a license from Wolverhampton this is the responsibility of their council. Sadly Harlow is a bit of a way away for them to come on a night out!

Although the Conservative’s bill makes this practise from taxi operators legal it is not sustainable and ultimately it is the people of Harlow who will suffer.

I have written to Harlow Council to express my concerns about this issue and hope that a solution can be found, I will also bring this issue to the next full council. However, if elected as your MP I will work with the next Labour government to form a more permanent solution to an issue caused by a short sighted Conservative government.

“In the meantime, when booking a taxi in Harlow, tell the operator you only want a driver and vehicle with a Harlow Council taxi licence’.

Chair of Licensing Committee hits back at Labour over taxi licences

https://www.yourharlow.com/2023/09/02/c ... -licences/

THE CHAIR OF Harlow Council’s Licensing Committee has responded to the Harlow Labour leader’s comments on taxi licences.

Councillor Nick Churchill said: “I am writing in response to Cllr Vince’s dramatic and misinformed statements concerning the sub contracting of private hire vehicles from Wolverhampton by ONE of the private hire operators in Harlow.

“The Harlow operator also operates in Wolverhampton and is licenced by Wolverhampton for that. There are clear and strict rules about using PH drivers and vehicles from other areas and all of those are being complied with. My licencing team has been making regular inspections of the operators activities in this regard and at no point has there been any breaches of the rules and regulations.

“All licencing authorities have a high standard regarding the driver and condition of the vehicle including DBS registration during the life of their licence and renewed checks as required. Their vehicles are required to undergo condition checks as required by the licencing authority.

I can say that Harlow Licencing is cooperating with Wolverhampton Licencing to facilitate condition checks of the Wolverhampton registered vehicles including visits from a member of the Wolverhampton team.

Councillor Vince’s assertion that Wolverhampton is cheaper to get a PH Drivers licence the cost of getting a badge is £233.48, for a 1 year licence. The cost for a 3 year licence is £289.48. In Harlow the cost is £240 for a 1-year licence or £405 for a 3-year licence. As you can see there is very little difference.

“The only loophole is in Cllr Vince’s statements.

“If Cllr Vince had taken the time to speak to his councillors on the licencing committee or even contact me then he would have all the information I ensured that a briefing was sent to members on 26th May 2023 this was a copy of a reply sent to Unite following their raising the issue with the council in April 2023.

He was also sent a copy of that briefing following his raising the question with the licencing team in August 2023.

“Am I surprised by Cllr Vince trying to manufacture a problem that my hard-working and hard-pressed Licencing team are already dealing with successfully? Not really no.

“Should Cllr Vince check his facts, read his mail and speak to his councillors before releasing inaccurate and misleading information? OH YES

Councillor Nick Churchill
Chairman of Licencing

Well, duh. The operator would also have to be licensed in Wolverhampton for the whole thing to work

He makes it sound like the business effectively has two separate branches in Wolverhampton and Harlow, but what's the betting that the Wolves operation is just a ghost office so that they can use Wolves-badged and -plated drivers and cars in Harlow?


Spin and defelction, effectively. I don't think the Labour councillor was really claiming anything about illegality per se.


But Harlow council's remit must be strictly limited as regards the Wolverhampton operator licence and the drivers and cars operating under that, surely?


Pure spin. We all know different councils have different standards. To imply that all authorities have similar standards is wrong. Likewise, the final sentence about 'condition checks' could really mean anything.


All this is saying, effectively, is that Harlow isn't standing in the way of compliance visits. Again, this is spin - I mean, Harlow could hardly stand in the way of Wolves LOs visiting Harlow, surely?

And read the above closely, and it's not clear whether or not Wolves LOs have ever actually visited Harlow. All it says, effectively, is that they won't stand in the way. Of course, maybe Wolverhampton have done visits, and to that extent the above is careful spin, but there's nothing concrete there about actual visits.

And, I mean, it's a near-300 mile round trip from Wolverhampton to Harlow - even travelling there and back would take almost a working day. Do they stay in hotels, or what? Wolverhampton has inspection garages in Southampton and Newcastle - 300 and 400 mile round trips respectively


Eh? Not much difference in the one-year badge, but the three-year badge is about £115 dearer in Harlow

And, again, this seems quite selective. Quite difficult getting precise information, but it's maybe instructive that the licensing chair doesn't mention plating fees above. As far as I can make out, it's around £300 for a one-year PHV plate, new or renewal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can make out, the plate renewal fee for Wolverhampton is in single figures.

And, again, just to quote badging fees simplifies a more elaborate process and barriers to entry. For example, despite recent stuff about backlogs, in general terms Wolverhampton has been attractive because of the time it takes to process new applications.

Likewise, Harlow seems to have a black cab fleet, but a dual HC/PH badge process, which entails an external driving assessment and knowledge test, neither of which applies to Wolverhampton, as far as I can tell.

The rest of the licensing chair's statement is just low-level spin and deflection, demonisation and gaslighting - how dare anyone question all the stuff we've been doing, and how dare anyone cast doubt upon our 'hard-working' licensing team, blah, blah.

And, of course, as well as the politicking and demonisation of opposition politicians, often the likes of the licensing chair here will take any criticism of the process personally, therefore...

Of course, there are plenty examples from other councils, and from all political hues, of local licensing authorities who are unahappy with what Wolverhampton is doing. But it's all hunky dory in Harlow. Or so we're told

Cross-border is not a manufactured problem, it's a real one that is causing issues all over the UK.

When your licensing department has no money to pay staff, due to the reduced license fees, you will suddenly become a little bit more aware of the problem.

_________________
IDFIMH

More from Harlow, but more heat than light here, and doesn't really add much to the substance of the arguments, and focuses mainly on the committee chair's complacency and absences from meetings.

But at least the press and trade are keeping the pot boiling.

But, of course, as we know, there's been similar stuff in many local areas over the years, however it's unlikely that any local campaigns will lead to the necessary change required at Westminster. Which, of course, isn't going to happen anytime soon.

So to that extent all this is local politics and posturing, and nothing much likely to happen.

There's a link below to a YouTube video of a recent meeting, which is mentioned in this article.

(And, again, there's extensive quoting in this article (the trade's Mr Dangerfield, most obviously), but there should be quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph that's one of the direct quotes, but they're not there, so it can be slightly confusing. But not really that difficult to work out which are the direct quotes.)


Angry Harlow taxi drivers call for chair of licensing committee to resign over “Wolverhampton controversy”.

https://www.yourharlow.com/2023/09/24/a ... ntroversy/

HARLOW taxi drivers have repeated their call for the chair of Harlow Council’s Licensing Committee to resign over what can only be described as the “Wolverhampton controversy”.

To re-cap: It has been more than eight years since a law change has meant that private hire drivers are not required to live or operate within the local authority where they were issued their license.

However, Harlow has seen a distinct increase in cab drivers registered in Wolverhampton

One local private-hire minicab driver told a Local Democracy Reporter that “people who live and work in Harlow are being pushed aside” by sub-contracted drivers from other parts of the country.

“All we want is fairness,” he added.

There are a number of factors which have caused this spike in private-hire licenses being issued by City of Wolverhampton Council. However, each instance can first be traced back to the introduction of the Deregulation Act 2015.

When changes surrounding taxi licensing were brought in by the act, it was explicitly written into law that drivers with a private-hire license issued by a local authority could use it to operate from anywhere within England and Wales. Previously, drivers were required to return to their licensed area in between jobs.

Wolverhampton in particular has become a go-to licensing authority due to the administration’s shorter waiting times and drastically lower fees in comparison to other councils.

At the start of this year, City of Wolverhampton licensing manager Greg Bickerdike noted that a nationwide shortage of private-hire drivers – caused primarily by the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic – had led to the council becoming “inundated” with new applications during 2021 and 2022.

He said: “The service is struggling to meet demand. As of December 15, 2022, there were 2,634 applications in the queue, which is approximately a two-month wait.”

Despite this, an effect of the huge surge in new private-hire license applications was that the council was left with a £300,000 surplus, which was in turn added to the licensing reserve account and put towards reducing license fees.

As of April 1 2023, a new one-year license for either a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle costs £49, rising to £98 for three years. In contrast, Harlow Council charges £298 for a one-year private-hire operator license.

Local authorities outside of London are not able to impose limits on the number of private-hire drivers or vehicles operating in their area. Government statistics show that, between 2022 and 2023, the number of licensed vehicles in the West Midlands increased by 31.8%. This is owed almost entirely to the large hike in licenses issued by City of Wolverhampton Council.

This has sparked anger amongst a number of Harlow’s hackney carriage and private-hire drivers, who claim they are slowly being forced out due to an over-saturated market, unsustainable licensing fees and lower costs for customers who opt to use services such as Uber (a provider which has around 180 drivers registered in the town).

One group has called for the resignation of licensing committee chairman Nick Churchill (Con., Sumners and Kingsmoor), alleging that he has “downplayed” the issue and “made everything look rosy”.

However, the LDRS was told that protesting Harlow cab drivers are “one step ahead” of Cllr Churchill in their fight for a review of the current legislation, and being supported by the trade union Unite.

As viewers saw, from our film at Thursday night’s Harlow council meeting, Harlow taxi drivers packed the gallery and had tabled a number of questions for councillor Churchill.

But councillor Churchill did not attend. His questions were answered by council leader, Dan Swords.

According to Harlow Council’s website, his attendance at full council meetings is as follows:

He has not attend full council meetings on Oct 28th, 2021, Dec 9th, 2021, Feb 24th, 2022, Sept 5th, 2022, September 22nd, 2022, Nov 3rd, 2022, Nov 22nd, 2022, Dec 15th, 2022, Feb 23rd, 2023, April 6th, 2023, July 20th, 2023, Sept 21st, 2023.

He has attended meetings on Feb 3rd, 2022, March 31st, 2022. May 26th, 2022, July 28th, 2022, Nov 17th, 2022, May 25th, 2023.

We asked Harlow taxi driver, Lee Dangerfield for his reflections on Thursday night.

Mr Dangerfield said: “It’s seems to us that drivers from Wolverhampton and Uber just do as they wish and the article written by Churchill reads they are doing nothing wrong and actually seem to get his backing. The figures given were totally incorrect and he kept using the word “Taxi” (see Stuart’s question number 8 plus the response)

We were very disappointed that Councillor Churchill failed once again to attend a meeting. The questions were designed for him to comment on not pass the buck to the leader who we have already met and will be meeting again shortly.

His attendance ( for a chair of a committee and the former whip of the group) is not acceptable, the public are noticing this also.

As a chair of a committee that has the power to end a persons livelihood the attendance needs to be better than this.

Cllr Churchill has no leadership , no direction or foresight see Question 10 from me regarding the LGA report in 2021, The fact that the answer from Cllr Swords clearly shows that this committee has been lazy and lacklustre in their approach to this ever growing problem.

“The committee used to invite a rep from both hackney carriage and private hire to meetings that included items on the trade but this has stopped since covid, This once again proves that the committee does not wish to communicate with the trade.

Officers are still working from home since Covid which means all drivers have to submit an email which will get answered at some point. There is no face to face meetings nor telephone conversations when you want them. This is not a service drivers deserve or expect for the amount of fees paid to the council.

“Why are these officers still working from home? The last report I received said that only a handful of checks had been done on H/C and P/H in Harlow how is that putting the duty of care at the forefront of every Harlow resident?

With reference to the Labour Party and Cllr Vince he stated he would raise this at full council. He never did? Why? I told Cllr Durcan on Thursday how disappointed I was that Labour said nothing.

Cllr Churchill needs to resign with immediate effect or Cllr Swords needs to remove him.

“Every driver I talk to says the same thing and we will continue to demand this until it happens”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9YM2x3NUps

As viewers saw, from our film at Thursday night’s Harlow council meeting, Harlow taxi drivers packed the gallery and had tabled a number of questions for councillor Churchill.

But councillor Churchill did not attend. His questions were answered by council leader, Dan Swords.

According to Harlow Council’s website, his attendance at full council meetings is as follows:

He has not attend full council meetings on Oct 28th, 2021, Dec 9th, 2021, Feb 24th, 2022, Sept 5th, 2022, September 22nd, 2022, Nov 3rd, 2022, Nov 22nd, 2022, Dec 15th, 2022, Feb 23rd, 2023, April 6th, 2023, July 20th, 2023, Sept 21st, 2023.

He has attended meetings on Feb 3rd, 2022, March 31st, 2022. May 26th, 2022, July 28th, 2022, Nov 17th, 2022, May 25th, 2023.

We asked Harlow taxi driver, Lee Dangerfield for his reflections on Thursday night.

Mr Dangerfield said: “It’s seems to us that drivers from Wolverhampton and Uber just do as they wish and the article written by Churchill reads they are doing nothing wrong and actually seem to get his backing. The figures given were totally incorrect and he kept using the word “Taxi” (see Stuart’s question number 8 plus the response)

We were very disappointed that Councillor Churchill failed once again to attend a meeting. The questions were designed for him to comment on not pass the buck to the leader who we have already met and will be meeting again shortly.

His attendance ( for a chair of a committee and the former whip of the group) is not acceptable, the public are noticing this also.

As a chair of a committee that has the power to end a persons livelihood the attendance needs to be better than this.

Cllr Churchill has no leadership , no direction or foresight see Question 10 from me regarding the LGA report in 2021, The fact that the answer from Cllr Swords clearly shows that this committee has been lazy and lacklustre in their approach to this ever growing problem.

“The committee used to invite a rep from both hackney carriage and private hire to meetings that included items on the trade but this has stopped since covid, This once again proves that the committee does not wish to communicate with the trade.

Officers are still working from home since Covid which means all drivers have to submit an email which will get answered at some point. There is no face to face meetings nor telephone conversations when you want them. This is not a service drivers deserve or expect for the amount of fees paid to the council.

“Why are these officers still working from home? The last report I received said that only a handful of checks had been done on H/C and P/H in Harlow how is that putting the duty of care at the forefront of every Harlow resident?

With reference to the Labour Party and Cllr Vince he stated he would raise this at full council. He never did? Why? I told Cllr Durcan on Thursday how disappointed I was that Labour said nothing.

Cllr Churchill needs to resign with immediate effect or Cllr Swords needs to remove him.

“Every driver I talk to says the same thing and we will continue to demand this until it happens”.

at the end of the day if councils stuck to the letter of the law they would not be making money out of licemsing.

Central government is not going to do anything about it because it might mean having to give councils more money to replace those lost profits

the problem is here to stay

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

I'm not so sure it's here to stay.

It might need a change of government, but the more council leaders complain to the central government, the more chances things will change.

_________________
IDFIMH

This is a letter to the press. Sounds like there's been a recent meeting that there doesn't seem to be any report on, so it's necessary to read round this a bit. But obviously there's a lot of issues around here, particularly the obvious cross-border stuff, and the politics of it all

So obviously it's all a bit confusing, but to recap, the council leader who's under the cosh in Harlow who's saying 'nothing to see here' as regards the Wolves stuff is Cllr Churchill, but this is mainly directed towards Cllr Swords, although Churchill gets a mention.

But more heat than light in the letter, although there's a bit more in the questions stated below the letter. The questions seem to be about inspecting cross-border cars, but as the answer states, that's not in the Harlow Council stats because that would be up to LOs from the other authorities in joint operations...

But certainly not many local cars checked during most of 2023


Letter to Editor: On Harlow Council leader and taxi drivers: “Sometimes you have to tell people that you can’t do anything for what ever reason”

Dear Editor,

AS per public questions at the last full council meeting it seems that Cllr Swords does not behave like a councillor or leader and basically has put two fingers up to everyone in the trade and includes the passenger safety for every resident of Harlow.

One of my questions at last week’s meeting was to ask why Cllr Swords hadn’t answered an email dated 2nd January 2024 which contained 20 questions from Harlow Hackney carriage drivers and also private hire drivers.

Once I had sent this email he responded saying the email would be answered in full by the 6th January.

Cllr Swords response at last week’s full council was that this email would be answered within five days.

He never said 5 working days but just 5 days. Having given him the benefit of the doubt i have allowed for working days. I then asked a supplementary question of which he once again replied he would answer within the next 5 days.

It’s a little bit like a question that was raised in September where he stated in Full Council it would be rectified within 2 weeks as of today’s date there has been no movement on this what so ever.

Well what a surprise he has let down the Hackney carriage and private hire drivers once again.
Does he think he can do what he wants and say what he wants in relation to people’s livelihoods?

Cllr Swords has no morals what so ever and I’ll go as far to say he has spoken untruths and has let down a lot of drivers who are trying to provide for their families.

If he’s not up to the job then resign and take Cllr Churchill with him.

People become councillors to help people and make the town a better place.

Sometimes you have to tell people that you can’t do anything for what ever reason but Cllr Swords has made many statements throughout the last six months of meetings which none have come anywhere to being a reality nor any thing close. He seemed to think that he would say what we wanted to hear and we would shut up and go away, how wrong he is, political stunts promising the world and delivering nothing costs votes.

Positivity creates growth, negativity creates a loss, the leader and the council seems to be proactively showing small business such as Hackney carriage and private hire drivers do not feature on the radar for council objectives( no photo opportunities)

I’m sure the private hire drivers and Hackney carriage drivers will send Cllr Swords and his party a clear message at the ballot box come May, how perplexed they really are.

Regards
Lee Dangerfield
(Private hire driver)


Questions and Answers from Feb 22nd Harlow Council meeting

Lee Dangerfield to Councillor Dan Swords (Leader of the Council):

At the cabinet meeting last week, a question was asked in relation to the
amount of checks that have taken place on Hackney Carriage and private hire
vehicles which includes vehicles from other areas. Can I have a breakdown of
the total amount of vehicles over the last year month by month including
Epping Forest, Uttlesford, Wolverhampton and Uber?

Reply from Councillor Dan Swords (Leader of the Council):

I have been provided with the figures from February 2023.

These figures only include Harlow licenced vehicles as even when there is a
joint operation with another council, that would keep their own inspection
records.

Harlow’s licensing team have carried out the following number of vehicle
checks in the last 12 months:

February 23 – 2
March 23 – 2
April 23 – 2
May 23 – 6
June 23 – 6
July 23 – 2
August 23 – 4
September 23 – 15
October 23– 14
November 23 – 29
January 24-1
Feb 24 – checks due to take place in next few days.

As Mr Dangerfield knows, these figures are below the numbers I would
expect and have committed to seeing. I apologise for this and I will ensure
that swift action is taken to get these figures up to the level he and I would
expect.

===============

Lee Dangerfield to Councillor Dan Swords (Leader of the Council):

On the 31st of December 2023, I emailed you, informing you that I would be
emailing him on the 2nd January 2024 with a list of questions that are
outstanding, that was duly sent on that date with a response from you saying
you would respond in full by the 6th. Can you please explain to me and the
whole Hackney carriage and Private Hire trade why we are still awaiting that
full response?

Reply from Councillor Dan Swords (Leader of the Council):

I apologise that the response has not been forthcoming. A full response will
be provided within the next five working days.

Absolutely pathetic enforcement from the council.

Someone needs to remind the council, and the councillors, that they have a legal duty to ensure the safety of residents and visitors to their area.

It isn't an opt-in or out situation, it's a legal duty.

_________________
IDFIMH

Now read the statement from the former licensing chair near the top of the thread: "Chair of Licensing Committee hits back at Labour over taxi licences."

So two years ago he issued the lengthy statement above defending the use of Wolves cars in Harlow, and basically said there wasn't a problem, and that local LOs had it all in hand.

They seem to be playing a different tune now - change of licensing chair, or just a change in attitudes all round?

But who'd have thought that a rare example of a local licensing chair defending the use of Wolves cars would eventually see a complete change in the council's attitude?