Taxi Driver Online

Private hire fares could rise by 500 per cent



FARES FOR private hire cars in Telford could go up by 500 per cent, it was revealed today.

A dispute has broken out between Telford Private Hire Drivers Association and Telford & Wrekin Council after it was revealed the cost for renewing licences could rocket – meaning the minimum fare could jump from £3 to £15.

The dispute also centres around a proposal to pay for marshals to escort nightclub revellers to waiting taxis.

The council currently charges £124 for a single operator licence but this could rise to £365.

The council’s licensing committee proposed the increases, to include the cost of marshaling, which could see a private hire driver’s licence for 12 months rise from £125 to £200 and the cost of a 12 month car licence jump from £134 to £225.

But today council bosses said nothing has been decided and a solution had to be found as council taxpayers were subsidising the service to the tune of £40,000.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2010/04/1 ... -per-cent/

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

What Sh*ite...yes its one hell of an increase but assuming that you do around 10 Ph pickups per day for say 300 days a year or 3000 per year at the £12 increase....that means youd cream an extra £36,000 ...damn the increase in licences only totals £166.00 Even if you only did 5 Ph pickups per day itd be an extra £18,000...and thats before the profits made from the rest of the journey milage,,,

Who dreamt up that rubbish.?

PH here have a daytime minimum charge of £4 (£6 night time) and pay the same costs as a H/C where as H/C daytime flag is £2.40 (£3.60 night time).... Where is the fairness in that?
We now have 236 PH here, mostly foreign drivers who have a habit of driving around town at night hoping to be flagged down, so us Hacks are keeping out a sharp eye and reporting any illegal pick ups.....

Why should PH pay for marshals?



If you want PH rates then become a PH driver and pay weekly settle on top of your licence fees for the privilege

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Yet another two bob council completely oblivious to the laws of the land.

Not only can they never justify £200 to cover the processing cost of a license, but what the f*** has taxi marshalling got to do with the PH trade?

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IDFIMH

I thought each Taxi & Private Hire Licensing department had to be self financing which is why the Private Hire would need to pay towards the taxi marshals.

Looking at it from another angle, why the f**k should hacks pay towards the enforcement of private hire illegally plying for hire ( or lack of it in most cases).

I don't suppose the private hire would want to pay towards taxi marshals that stop them robbing work from the ranks.

You answered you're own question

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Goodnight and goodbye.

The council’s licensing committee proposed the increases, to include the cost of marshaling, which could see a private hire driver’s licence for 12 months rise from £125 to £200

Can we have a marshal then ? ... as I am putting moneny into the scheme

All taxi marshalling schemes are two-fold in objective.

Firstly, to keep order at taxi ranks & load passengers into proper taxis.

Secondly, to prevent passengers getting into PHVs who think they are proper taxis, but are in fact improper taxis.

Let's face it, if the great majority of PH around the country abided by their conditions of licence in this respect instead of flying the 'skull & crossbones', there would be little need for marshalls.

And for this reason, there is a strong case for the cost of marshalling to be at least divided between proper taxi licence fees & improper taxi licence fees, and some would argue that it should be entirely paid for out of the fees from PH licensing.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Wouldn't lower my standards to the level of "pirate hire" and rip of the public..... Yet they all want to get a H/C plate but don't want to purchase a wav!! Double standards!!

I think you may find that marshals are to help keep order at ranks and to prevent 'proper taxis' from cherry picking. That's not to say some ph don't indeed fly the flag as do some 'proper taxis' when they're out of area



It may just be that some did the maths and found it was not financially viable in their area to lay out such an investment

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

All funding for the Falkirk Taxi Marshall Scheme* is from The Town Centre Management Budget. A fact that took more than a few of us by surprise when we were told. Having said that it is in as much their best interests to clear the town quickly and safely, as it is ours, and indeed the police's.

* Friday and Saturday 11pm-4am only.

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My heart is heavy, but my consience clear,
I voted Yes, without any fear.

It's because they can't come up to the standards (here they are high) required to afford the investment, hence 129 H/C and 236 PH that illegally try to ply for hire, that is why they want H/C plates!!

Here we have the same required standards regardless (high standard throughout). It is only a matter of choice which vehicle you drive, hence the reason why the HC's here work the PH systems. It would appear that the investment that they obviously didn't consider too high is indeed too high and is not making the returns they thought they would. We only have 230 odd HC's (although there were originally as high as 400) and somewhere around 1200 PH. Whilst we're on the subject of illegally plying for hire could somebody refresh my memory and tell me exactly where a HC has to be to ply for hire?

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!