http://www.berwick-advertiser.co.uk/news/Newcastle-taxi-drivers-protest-in.3825128.jp
Published Date: 28 February 2008
Newcastle taxi drivers protest in Berwick
Taxi drivers from Newcastle make their protest outside the Council Offices in Wallace Green.
DOZENS of Newcastle taxi drivers made a 65-mile trip up the A1 to stage a mass protest outside Berwick Borough Council's offices on Wednesday afternoon.
The 30-strong group, all members of the Newcastle Hackney Carriage Association, claim their livelihoods are being threatened by a flood of Berwick-registered taxi drivers plying their trade in the city.
Terence Gorman, who handed over a 128-signature petition, said: "We've got over 200 Berwick-upon-Tweed taxi plates sitting in our streets in our city and they are stealing our work."
Berwick Borough Council is coming under fire because of its decision to issue cut-price licences to taxi drivers from all over the country.
The issue is already the subject of a judicial review brought by Newcastle City Council against Berwick Borough Council to be heard at the High Court next year - although it is widely thought Berwick will have been disbanded by that time.
"I've lost one third of my business since the Berwick Council started issuing these licenses and I can't afford to wait for the outcome of a judicial review," said Mr Gorman.
The number of hackney carriage licenses issued by Berwick Borough Council has increased from 46 to 487 in less than two years with the majority of these drivers working in the Tyneside area.
Newcastle City Council restricts the number of licenses it issues but taxi drivers are able to apply for Berwick licences in order to exploit a loophole which enables them to operate as private hire companies in Newcastle and North Tyneside.
The borough council says that it is legally obliged to issue the licences to qualifying drivers even if they operate elsewhere in the country.
The Berwick-licensed drivers do not have to pass a Newcastle knowledge test to find out how well they know the city and there are concerns that many are "flimping", illegally picking up people who hail them on the street when they are only allowed to be used for private hire.
"The council thinks it's alright because they have found a loophole in the law but we think their actions are morally and ethically wrong," said Mr Gorman.
"The idea of this protest is to show the strength of feeling of the Newcastle drivers and hopefully make the council realise how its policy is causing us a lot of grief and stress."
However, he warned that bigger protests will be organised in the future if the council refuses to buckle and that several drivers were considering doing shifts in Berwick to give local drivers a taste of the problem.
"It's a peaceful protest," said colleague John Dodd. "We don't want to cause any problems but we want to draw attention to what this council is doing." The 30-minute protest, accompanied by much tooting of horns, caused tailbacks in the Walkergate and Church Street areas of the town and drew a small crowd of curious onlookers.
A council spokesman said: "We deeply regret the actions of the group of Tyneside licensed hackney carriages who today protested at the council offices, disrupting the town centre. The matter was reported to the police to ensure people were able to continue with their business. The issue of hackney carriage licensing over which they protested is to be considered by the High Court next year.
"The council has recognised the need to engage in high visibility enforcement in areas such as Tyneside and had therefore recruited an experienced Licensing Enforcement Officer from another authority and invested in a high visibility enforcement vehicle. High visibility enforcement commenced last week and will be continuing."
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