Derby cab firms unite against licence fee hike
TAXI drivers say proposed increases to their licence fees will add to rising fuel costs and a surplus of cabs on the road to ruin their business.
A petition of 480 names was handed to Derby City Council yesterday by representatives from the taxi trade opposing proposed hikes in licence and badge fees for drivers.
Rafiq Yasin from 75 Taxis was among those handing in the petition.
He said: "Compared to the revenue being generated by drivers, these fees are extortionate."
The council is proposing to put up the cost of badges required by taxi drivers from £138 to £151.
In addition, the cost of vehicle licences, which have to be paid separately, will go up to £109.
Drivers said they currently paid £92.
Mr Yasin said: "We have seen fuel costs go up massively.
"It is ridiculous and there is just not the volume of work out there because there are that many new drivers on the road.
"Really, we need a cap on the number of licences given out.
"It's making it so that many drivers are now earning less than minimum wage."
A month-long consultation into the changes ended yesterday and drivers responded by handing over the petition to John Tomlinson, the council's director of environmental and regulatory services.
The petition will be passed on to the strategic director for neighbourhoods, Paul Robinson.
In Mr Robinson's report to the taxi licensing and appeals committee, which recommended the increases be brought in, he stated the rises were needed to cover the costs of providing the licensing service and were not to make a profit.
If a cash surplus were to occur, the council said the money would be held in an account which could be used to offset any shortfall in fees and charges the following year.
The authority is predicting a shortfall of income in the service of nearly £19,000 during this financial year if the fee increases are not implemented.
It said this was because expenditure on licensing and enforcement of taxis, including court fees, salaries, training and photography for badges, would cost more than £313,000, while the income from licences would be about £294,000.
Javed Khan, chairman of the Derby Area Taxi Operators' Association, said: "There are so many new licences being given out that the income from those should cover the administration costs.
"There shouldn't be a need to put up the charges."
Gulfraz Nawaz from Albatross taxi firm organised the campaign against the increase.
He said: "It only took us 10 days to get 480 signatures on this petition because the strength of feeling among the drivers is so high on this."
The petition and other feedback from the consultation will now be considered before changes are made.
If the new charges are upheld, they will come into force from April 2.
26 Comments
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by Spibyphotographic
Monday, February 20 2012, 10:18AM
“I think that taxi's are earning enough from what they do. Recently Derbyshire Police lifted a number of taxi's from the highway due to faults or fauty workmanship which I found distressing, surley taxis are subject to a more stringent tests ?? and who does the work on these taxi's. The largest problem I see with the yellow cab's are dirty diesel smoke or a stop/tail bulb has been replaced the wrong way so when the brake is pressed the tail light comes on, great! this says a lot about the driver and how he conducts repairs and I wonder how many do their safty checks each day.
From the Market Place to Nottingham Road Cemetery costs around 5.50 and takes around 5 minutes, if the driver had 10 different customers each traveling the same distance, well you don't need a degree to work it out and it surley earns more than the minimum wage despite costs.
All my lights/brakes/tyres/engine work properly and I don't drive for a living so whats your excuse.”
by ProudBrit1
Friday, February 17 2012, 7:33PM
“Too many taxi's on the road as it is. Hopefully this fee will get rid of some of the less customer friendly, (Family Paper in mind) ********'s that parade as caring service providers. check out the train station at 7:30 pm on a week night.”
by jeff_libdem
Friday, February 17 2012, 7:02PM
“I smell a touch of Welsh hypocrisy in the air. From what I have read that is. Not been here long but I can see there have been some disputes between certain posters.”
by jeff_libdem
Friday, February 17 2012, 7:02PM
“I smell a touch of Welsh hypocrisy in the air. From what I have read that is. Not been here long but I can see there have been some disputes between certain posters.”
by janine2011
Friday, February 17 2012, 10:41AM
“I got a taxi from the supermarket the other day, was the taxi clean? Yes it was. Was the driver helpful? Yes he was. After loading my shopping into his boot the first thing he apologised for was his radio wasn't working, he had fitted a new one which was giving him some problems, was I bothered by that? No, to me it was a relief, I listen to enough music from others, I don't even have my own radio on in the house. Would I use the firm for again? Yes and I ask for him. Given the amount of unhelpful, arrogant drivers it is nice to find one that drives well and is helpful.”
by real_debater
Friday, February 17 2012, 10:15AM
“Hmm comments removed, someone been throwing their weight around again! And he wonders why I hadnt posted anything since last June, thereby accusing me of being new! (profile history only shows the last couple of months)
Anyway I will repeat my earlier comment as the latter one now makes no sense without the first
- The badge and license is the publics assurance that the taxi driver is insured to carry passengers, without which they cannot get the license, so it is more than a "credit card sized piece of paper"
I have to obtain at increasing costs licenses and qualifications to do my job safely, its no different
If you don't like the costs, change your career”
by real_debater
Friday, February 17 2012, 10:14AM
“Hmm comments removed, someone been throwing their weight around again! And he wonders why I hadnt posted anything since last June, thereby accusing me of being new!
Anyway I will repeat my earlier comment as the latter one now makes no sense without the first
- The badge and license is the publics assurance that the taxi driver is insured to carry passengers, without which they cannot get the license, so it is more than a "credit card sized piece of paper"
I have to obtain at increasing costs licenses and qualifications to do my job safely, its no different
If you don't like the costs, change your career”
by asctty
Thursday, February 16 2012, 9:35PM
“It costs a street trader more for a pitch in the city centre for a day than it does to obtain a taxi licence for the year; http://tinyurl.com/7z6nsqg
If the margins are so tight for PH taxis, then there must be too many of them.
With regard to the running costs, I see that one of the costs the council has to endure is that of enforcement, which I understand to include the random inspection of PH cars which has highlighted some serious defects. Again, if you can't afford to keep the car on the road in a safe state because of lack of income, then supply has outstripped demand.
The operators should club together and rationalise their trade offerings to make it a viable operation for all.”
by real_debater
Thursday, February 16 2012, 8:32PM
“srbur10
To get a license and a badge you have to have insurance to carry passengers. You cannot operate without either. So yes it is also about insurance”
by SJBROWNDERBY
Thursday, February 16 2012, 8:28PM
“sbur10 ........It is good to see that a taxi driver admits that there are bad ones in the trade. Yes, the public will always judge by the lowest standards so it's up to you to weed those bad ones out of the trade. A few years ago you were given the opportunity by the council to conduct a survey about the number of taxis (HC and private hire) and drivers in Derby. The trade was complaining about the number of licenses issued. The cost of that survey was to be borne by the trade but you turned it down because the council were not prepared to pay for it. This situation could have been nipped in the bud years ago but you would not go for it. You could not see that the council would never agree to paying for something which could ultimately affect their revenue stream.”