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It would appear that City of Edinburgh Council are having a laugh over their proposed increase to the new vehicle licence fee.
In 2002 the fee was reduced from £1000 to £700 because the taxi licensing budget had built up a huge surplus. In effect the council had been ripping us off.
Now CEC is claiming that it needs to raise the fees because the surplus has been disbursed. But note, it is not propsing to increase the fee back to the level which we already know generates a huge surplus, they're intending to push it 25% above that.
(Doesn't logic suggest that we would just be back in mega surplus situation again very shortly?).
So, the question is, is this just an attempt by CEC to protect the taxi licensing budget, to pay for its inefficiency in the way it administers taxi licensing?
Or is it a means to cash in heavily on forthcoming de-restriction which could see a significant rise in the number of new vehicle licences issued and bring many sheckels to the council coffers?
We should remember that under the legislation licensing is only supposed to wash it face, be self financing, and not make profit. However, in Edinburgh there is a clear suggestion that employees who perform taxi licensing do work for other areas of licensing generally. The taxi licensing budget is therefore cross subsidising other licensing areas.
There is also the concern about inefficiency where the Taxi Examination Centre has 7 examiners, but only three ramps on which to examine. It also enjoys the luxury of being able to close for a lunch hour and the place closes around 3.45 pm. It's a cushy number, it is inefficient and we're paying for it. Pewhaps this is why sensible councils have opted for a straight MOT system or use MOTEC?
Then there's the huge discrepency where East Lothian Council charges £700 for a new licences while Edinburgh proposes £1250. Curious is it not?
When the recent licence applications were invited to withdraw their application (because the CEC were bending over backwards using every piece of legal chicanery to deny licences) they were offered a refund of £525. This left £175 retained to pay for the application process. When you add the around £170 for the normal vehicle inspection fee the total around £350 is effectively the true cost of the process in Ediburgh for a new licence. The remaining £350 is pure "profit" used to subsidise other areas of licensing. The difference in the new fee of around £900 represents little more than CEC usury, it ripping the taxi trade off big time.
Anyway, here is our response. Let's know what you think.
2 November 2006
FAO Peter Lang
Licensing Officer
Licensing Department
City of Edinburgh Council
City Chambers
High Street
Edinburgh
EH1
Dear Mr Lang
I write formally to object to the Council’s proposal to increase the fee for a new taxi vehicle licence to £1250 and require that you represent this view to the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) on my behalf and acknowledge same.
Currently the fees charged for the Initial Grant of a vehicle licence by other adjacent local authorities and the Public Carriage Office in London are as follows.
West Lothian £306.00
Midlothian Council £261.00
East Lothian £79.25
PCO (London) £142.00
Edinburgh (proposed) £1250.00
You will recall my previous correspondence with the CEC where I requested full details of the breakdown which was used to determine the level of fees in this instance. The response from Donald Anderson, Council Leader at the time, in his email of 3rd August was singularly unhelpful and failed to properly answer my enquiry.
I reiterate my legitimate request in respect of the proposed fee – how was this fee level arrived at, who took the decision and what is the detailed breakdown used to justify it? Please explain why CEC is proposing to set the fee at the high level of £1250, around 1,450 per cent higher than East Lothian, who set a fee of only £79.25 for the same procedure.
It is reprehensible that CEC intends to hike this already extortionate fee at this time and raises serious questions about why it intends to do so.
It is clear that the Council appears to be working to an agenda outwith the normal guidelines under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (the Act) for setting such fees, which are intended to meet the cost of the service provided and not to be used as a revenue raiser, either outwith or within the licensing budget.
In the current situation, of which CEC is well aware, where taxi licence plates are being traded for sums in excess of £50,000 (although the Act specifically does not permit this), the effect of this over-inflated fee seems designed to suppress the current high demand and any applications for vehicle licences, as well as future demand when the quantity restrictions are abolished in line with the London model managed by the Public Carriage Office (PCO).
I therefore lay the following charges:-
The current fee of £700 is too high – CEC have failed to justify even it – as shown when comparison is made with other local authorities in the area, and with the PCO in London.
In the event of CEC de-restricting taxi numbers, and a substantial increase in the number of new licences which would be granted, the proposed fee of £1250 is effectively a Council induced “licence to print money”.
The proposed fee is designed to protect the vested interests of the CEC led trade “cartel” and to further inflate licence plate transfer “values”.
The proposed fee is a deliberate attempt by CEC to hike taxi rentals up further in the interests of the “cartel”.
The proposed fee has been set so high as a ploy to deter licence applications, reduce entry to the taxi trade, both in the current restricted situation and in the future unrestricted quantity market.
In view of this I demand :-
That the proposed increase in vehicle licence fees be withdrawn.
That a proper study be conducted to evaluate the true level the fee should be set at, based on current procedures in similar local authority situations.
That a full evaluation be made of current practices to ensure that best practice is being carried out, both within CEC Licensing department and the Taxi Examination Centre, particularly in relation to cost-effectiveness.
Yours sincerely
Jim Taylor
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