Taxi Driver Online

From what appears to be the letters section of THE YORKSHIRE EVENING POST

Action needed on wheelchair taxis

Published Date: 09 April 2010

In reply to the letter dated April 1 from Carol Brown I totally agree with her on the issue of wheelchair accessible taxis being in short supply in Leeds.

In Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield 100 per cent of Hackney carriages are wheelchair accessible (YEP 30/3/2010).

Yet Leeds councillors are limiting the numbers of hackney carriage licences to 537. Coun Brian Selby said: "There does appear an issue of unmet demand for disabled people. This needs to be investigated further."

Tim McSharry of the Access Committee for Leeds, says some older and frail people prefered saloon cars and said it was important to provide a mix of vehicles.

He should be campaigning for more wheelchair taxis in the private hire sector, of 4,190 vehicles only 40 are accessible.

John Selby, Mickley Street, Armley

Source; http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... 6215236.jp

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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I think that by the end of 2011 there will be approximately 1,000 HC in Leeds, with the compulsory issue of about 400+ WAVs between now & then.

_________________
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.

Thinking about it . . . this Equality Act could create predator plate barrons in certain parts of the country!!

_________________
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.

I think all area's will be near enough 100% wav within the next ten years as vehicle are renewed at the end of their lifetime. Most vehicles are near the end of their age limits, so I expect the cost of second hand wav's to go through the roof. In Manchester a second hand TX2 o6 plate has been sold for 18k by Mann + O. Another has been bought for 16.5k. Both incredible prices for a 4 or 5 year old cab. Do a search on the net and try to find a TX2 manual for sale, they fetch a fortune now, wait until people are more desperate.

Unless the trade decide to implement a 100% WAV policy within a year or so.

The choice is theirs.

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IDFIMH

If 537 wheelchair access vehicles can't meet demand in Leeds there must be a hel lof a lot of wheelchair bound people living there !

R u on bubbles

My understanding is that Leeds is all WAV for hackney as all large metroplitan districts have to be or have they managed to interpret the law differently in Yorkshire

Leeds have mostly white saloons with a black bonnet and boot as Hacks. They interpet the Law correctly, until this bill (equality) council's had the power under s37 of town police clauses to "license whatever the saw fit".
The purpose of the equality bill was to rescind this clause.

Well if anyone wants a mint condition TX2 Gold, low mileage, auto, PCO taxi, just PM me. I'm sure I can beat M&O !

There are 20 odd thousand in London but I bet at times WAV punters struggle to get home.

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IDFIMH

Of the 537 hacks in Leeds, 275 are WAV's and 262 saloon's. At a recent meeting over the unmet demand survey the local council agreed to leave the current number of hacks at 537 for a minimum of 3 years.

We are fortunate that our local disabled access committee agree to a mixed fleet as not all disabled are in a wheelchair nor are they able to get into a WAV.

This is where the equality bill fails, they are demanding 100% WAV when only a small percentage of disabled people are confined to a wheelchair.

The DDA act states that a disabled person should not be treated unfavourably to any able bodied person, the equality bill does just that as some disabled would be unable to access a WAV and would require a saloon vehicle which if we were 100% WAV we could not provide.

IS THIS ANOTHER WAY OF OUR GOVERNMENT OR LOCAL AUTHORITIES PUSHING CUSTOMERS ON TO THE PRIVATE HIRE RATHER THAN THE HACKS !!!

In order to fulfil the requirements of the DDA all local authorities should have a mixed fleet of at least 50% WAV's in my personal opinion.

Its more a Case of the Government not being able to see further than the end of their own noses...Mention the word Disabilty to them and they assume everyone under that heading is a wheelchair bound cripple...and so play to the Gallery by their one size fits all mentality.

Sadly in their perceived as fashionable haste to introduce equality for the Disabled they are infact creating a further and bigger inequality to the ambient disabled in order to be seen to appeasing the minority wheelchair using disabled.

Typically the knee jerk reaction of a Government that only seeks kudos by doing what they think the disabled want as compared to what the disabled of the country actually need..

At times we all struggle to get home. In fact at times we can't always have what we want, when we want it, that's life

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

I agree with the above, but it's also fair to say that the average wheelchair user uses cabs a lot more than the average non wheelchair user.

So as a % of our trade they proportionally account for more than their numbers suggest.

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IDFIMH