Taxi Driver Online

Andy Burnham ‘disappointed’ after ‘massively important’ taxi changes dropped by government

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... y-32957213

"It’s not just me that’s perhaps not being heard"

Andy Burnham is ‘disappointed’ after the government dropped ‘massively important’ changes to the taxi licensing system.

The mayor has long campaigned for a ban on out-of-area taxi working, which happens when a driver licensed by one council routinely works in another part of the country. Notably, nearly half of minicabs in Greater Manchester are registered outside the city-region, with more than one in 10 English private hire taxis licensed by Wolverhampton council alone.

He hoped an amendment to the government’s Devolution Bill, tabled by Heywood and Middleton North MP Elsie Blundell, could pave the way for a ban. However, the amendment was dropped by the government, meaning an outright ban is off-the-table for now, although national minimum standards for private hire vehicles are set to be introduced.

And that’s ‘disappointed’ Andy Burnham, the mayor said on Thursday (November 27).

“It’s not just me that’s perhaps not being heard, Baroness Casey in her report of the summer in relation to child sexual exploitation said very clearly this was a loophole that had to be closed down,” he told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday (November 27).

But it doesn’t mean Mr Burnham will drop the issue, the former Leigh MP added: “I am definitely [disappointed]. I have not given up.

“This bill is not through Parliament. It has to go to the Lords yet. I am seeking to identify a member of the House of Lords to take an amendment forward.”

The mayor also said Greater Manchester’s cabbies are largely on-board with his campaign, and believes political pressure will ramp up as other regional mayors take up the mantle.

He went on: “The majority of the taxi trade is with us on this issue. We are going to ramp up the campaign and link up with other cities. I know people in Liverpool and Sheffield feel the same.”

He is of course right - and I cant believe the government are that idiotic

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

At a rough guess I'd say the Government think it's maybe all too messy and complex to do it all at once, so they're delaying much of it until they can look at the whole thing more, er, holistically.

So they can maybe do some of the vetting stuff in the meantime (which I suspect will be what the minimum standards will be all about, as opposed to the stuff we think about like knowledge tests and vehicle age limits, blah, blah), and move responsibility to the transport authorities and away from local councils.

I mean, look at the hoohah caused by the average amalgamation of two or three councils...

...imagine that encompassing the whole country, and unwinding Wolverhampton's 50,000 badges, 35,000 plates, and near 500 operator's licences

Or, for example, if there's only 70 licensing authorities, how will that affect HCs, knowledge tests, plying for hire, tariff structures and plate quotas?

It'll be a bloodbath

At least he is not letting things go.

I'm a little bit more relaxed than him, and as I said in another post, nothing is stopping the government from adopting any new cross-border rules in the national minimum standards via new operator regulations.

_________________
IDFIMH

No but those at the DFT are.

HC zones - ph unaffected I guess

a one tier system through the backdoor - supported by all? -

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I take it you don't follow politics then !

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

You're saying you think they'd retain HC zones to reflect the current scenario? Well, of course, that would work, to an extent at least, but would kind of make the whole thing look a bit pointless, at least in the HC sense.

And while differing PH standards have been undermined by cross-border working, again it would be a bit pointless having a single authority unless standards are the same across the authority. And to the extent that there are still different standards, then changing them across a larger authority isn't going to be easy.

I mean, obviously Scotland is different, but look at the hoohah over the HC and PH knowledge test in Aberdeen, and Uber's ongoing desire to dump it

And all of which points to the complexity of ending cross-border working, and imposing a single set of standards over a new authority area encompassing several current and possibly very disparate local council areas. Which I'd guess is partly why it's not being waved through parliament at the moment.

Then there's the vested interests in local government itself, and the bureaucratic empires represented by the likes of City of Wolverhampton Council, and all the staff therein. Not to mention hundreds of local equivalents, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Of course, it's always easy for us and politicians to make the right noises about how to sort stuff out, but actually implementing it is a different matter

Again, James Button's idea to effectively designate a single authority to become a de facto national private hire regulator is a case in point. That would require the 263 authorities all to agree to implement it, and all to agree on a single standard. Was never going to happen. And ably demonstrates how difficult it will be for the Government to do it all via Westminster.