Taxi Driver Online

Cost concerns delay wheelchair taxi plans

CONTROVERSIAL plans to make all new taxis wheelchair accessible have been delayed following concerns about the cost to cabbies. Castle Point Council wants all drivers applying for a hackney carriage licence to be able to carry wheelchair users, which requires specially fitted vehicles with wider doors, more headroom and ramps.

However, some cab firms fear the changes would stop drivers applying for the licence due to the cost of the vehicles, estimated to be between £20,000 and £30,000. Castle Point Council’s licensing committee voted to delay the changes because of the concerns raised by taxi drivers. A meeting between councillors and representatives of the borough’s cabbies will be held within the next month to discuss the plans.

Steve Wilson, manager of Steve’s Radio Cars, said: “We’re pleased to have this meeting. “I believe the rules are not about getting more disabled taxis, but limiting the number of hackney carriages in the borough by making it too expensive for new drivers.”

Only 4 per cent of hackney carriages in Castle Point are currently wheelchair accessible. This figure is less than neighbouring boroughs, where the figure is 35 per cent in Southend, 16 per cent in Rochford, 63 per cent in Basildon and 20 per cent in Thurrock.

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IDFIMH

once again ---- "disabled" = wheelchairs

OH NO IT DOESNT!

You're right, but, some have dogs and you don't like them either

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

theres bitches too.............

can you imagine forcing every disabled person into a wheelchair before they can use a taxi?

lol


good old AOPs, clear as mud

I don't think that's necessary, do you? I do however think that people in wheelchairs should be able to get a taxi/ph if they wish. I also think that there should be mixed fleets to accomodate a more varied public. Another thing I think is important to note and that is nobody is forcing anybody to do the job of a taxi/ph driver the choice is upto the individual once the job description, byelaws, regulations are explained fully to them

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

IMO every licensed cab in the country should be a WAV.

If people don't want a WAV they can use the phone and get the likes of you.

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IDFIMH

Your extracting the urine now!!!

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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.

Utopia would be your suggestion, but with a totally redesigned vehicle, so that wheelchair bound passengers A N D ambulant disabled passengers A N D able-bodied passengers are ALL able to use such a vehicle & get in & out of such a vehicle, with equal ease & comfort.

NOW THAT WOULD BE EQUALITY!!!

And the first vehicle manufacturer that designs such a vehicle will make a fortune!

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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.

I'm not saying they are the perfect cab, cos they ain't, but the E7, TW type cabs can IMO take anyone, as long as they have got a pull out ramp.

If a punter can walk up a small ramp, then they can get in. All it needs is for drivers to show them how easy it is, and for saloon drivers to stop scaremongering the grannies.

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IDFIMH

Do you drive a WAV sussex?

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

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IDFIMH

Are you sad cos you do or sad cos you don't?

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

Sad because I don't like driving them, but very happy that soon all my colleagues will be sharing the same experience.

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IDFIMH

Just because you are daft enough to try to push a 20 stone bloke in a wheelchair up a 40% incline on cold wet day, does'nt mean everyone else is!
When you are on here in 20 yrs[god willing]cribbing about how your back is all done because of all the wheelchairs you tried to get into your van, guess who's gonna say TOLD YOU SO!
Even your own LA have two ppl to do your job and a chair lift. The ambulace station ppl use the same methodology so why do you think that you know better? #
Even worse, because you feel you need to do it, you want everyone else to have to do it as well, so you dont feel left out.
In 30 years time ppl will be amazed that taxi drivers were ever asked to undertake such dangerous tasks on their own, with add-hock vans and no power lifts. I suspect that you have never worked in any other industy [sorry if iam incorrect] but if you did, you would be horrified at some of the tasks that LA require taxi drivers to do. When the same LA in-house transport staff must conform to Health & Safety criteria, you would prefer to ignore H & S and knuckle under rather than tackle your own LA. Its realy just looking at the industry from a commom sense point of view and not a taxi drivers point of view!