Taxi Driver Online

I'm sure my thread title will make sense after reading this below


Increasing licensing fees for Chichester taxis is being considered

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/po ... ed-5032345

Chichester District Council is considering increasing licensing fees for taxis in an effort to plug a gap in its costs.

Legally, the cost of licensing the district’s hackney carriage and private hire vehicles is supposed to be fully covered by income from fees and charges.

But a £23,700 shortfall is predicted for 2024/25.

During the pandemic, in an effort to make things easier for the drivers, the council didn’t increase the fees.

By the end of 2020/21, the cost gap stood at £102,650.44. Two years later it was down to £74,884.46 – still quite a hefty shortfall.

In February 2024, it was agreed that a 37% increase in the cost of licensing fees would be introduced, spread over two years.

But, during a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (March 11), members were told that the 18% increase for 2025/26 would not be enough, and supported the idea of adding another 10% on top of that.

Iain Ballantyne (Lib Dem The Witterings), chair of the general licensing committee, said: “Sometimes these issues are matters of presentation. If you present this argument as an increase of 10%, that worries everybody to quite some considerable extent. But when you look at the actual cost to the driver per week, which is a maximum of 49p, this isn’t an amount of money that’s going to be hurtful to the trade.”

A 28-day consultation into the proposed increase will be held. After that, should all go as planned, the application cost for a one-year licence for drivers with a dual hackney carriage/ private hire licence will rise from £166 to £216.38, while renewing a one-year licence will rise from £134 to £174.67.

A three-year licence will rise from £369.50 to £481.65, with a renewal rising from £337.50 to £439.93.

To put it as charitably as possible, he's basically saying the whole thing should be spun to make it look less painful than it actually is

Gosh, renewals cheaper than new applications - who'd have expected that?

Certainly not a certain local authority further up the country

I'm frankly amazed Chichester council needs more money from the trade.

They license anything that moves as a PH, and those vehicles work everywhere else but Chichester.

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IDFIMH

well if you think about it it's quite handily placed for quite a large part of the South coast so makes sense

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

This isn't very exciting, but I can't recall a deficit like this stated in a press report to the nearest penny


Chichester taxi company warns of impact after council recommends fees price rise

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/po ... se-5127958

Taxi licensing fees in Chichester look set to rise again in an effort to plug a gap in the district council’s costs.

Legally, the cost of licensing the district’s hackney carriage and private hire vehicles is supposed to be fully covered by income from fees and charges. But in recent years, the council has been running things at a deficit, with a shortfall of £23,700 forecast.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (May 13), a recommendation was made to the licensing committee that the fees for 2025/26 be increased by 10%. This follows an 18.5% increase that came into effect on April 1.

If approved, the cost of a one-year licence for drivers with a dual hackney carriage/ private hire licence will rise to £216 from the current £196.71 (£166 before April). Renewing a one-year licence will rise to £174.50 from the current £158.79 (£134 before April).

The cost of a three-year licence will rise to £481.50 from the current £437.86 (£369.50 before April), with a renewal rising to £439.50 from the current £399.94 (£337.50 before April).

During the pandemic, in an effort to make things easier for the drivers, the council didn’t increase the fees. This contributed to a cost gap of £102,650.44 by the end of 2020/21. Two years later it was down to £74,884.46 – still quite a hefty shortfall.

A consultation into the latest proposed increase was held with licence holders in March and April, with more then 700 emails sent out by the council. Only 14 responses were received from the 675 drivers and 60 operators across the district.

Most carried the same message – another rise in costs would leave them questioning whether it was sustainable to continue operating in Chichester.

Starline Sussex Ltd said it had budgeted for the 18.5% increase but was ‘horrified’ by the additional 10%.

The company added: “In reality, this additional increase, if approved, will equate to a 49% increase in fees over two fiscal years. It goes without saying that this will impact on all operators and drivers as they cannot reasonably increase their charges by 49%, which will make any businesses unsustainable.”