Newcastle Borough Council votes to tighten taxi age restrictionsTAXI drivers have lost their fight against plans to tighten age restrictions on their vehicles.
Newcastle Borough Council has decided to stop re-licensing Hackney carriage saloon car vehicles once they are eight-years-old.
Previously saloon cars could remain licensed as Hackney carriages as long as they passed an annual MOT test, while only those licensed as private hire vehicles had to be 'retired' after eight years.
Members of the Newcastle and Kidsgrove Taxi Association staged a protest prior to the meeting at the Civic Offices in Merrial Street last night.
But the full council voted to change the licensing policy to ensure the safety and reliability of the vehicles.
Tariq Mahmood, chairman of the Newcastle and Kidsgrove Taxi Association, has hit out at the decision and said the group would not give up its fight.
The 50-year-old, of North Road, Cobridge, who has been working as a cabbie for eight years, said: "We are angry about the decision and we do not accept that this is the right thing to do.
"It is stupid that in neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent the policy is completely different in that Hackney carriage vehicles don't have to retire at a certain age, as long as they pass a MOT and a suitability test.
"A lot of taxi drivers can't afford to buy new cars and this will hit us hard.
"We will have to raise taxi fares and the fact that saloon hackney carriages in Stoke-on-Trent can travel to Newcastle will put us out of business.
"If it isn't unsafe for people to be sat in Stoke-on-Trent licensed taxis that are more than eight years old, why is it unsafe for them to sit in ours?
"It is our livelihood that is affected and it feels like we don't have a say on the matter. More than 100 drivers are affected by this decision and we will keep fighting this."
Father-of-three Abdul Halim, aged 47, of Winifred Street, Hanley, said: "We simply can't afford to replace a car just because it's eight years old. A car of that age is not an old car and there is no reason why it isn't safe. My car was made in 2007 so now it means I will have to buy another one next year.
"Times are already hard for taxi drivers as people are taking less taxis in this economic climate and the council isn't helping matters.
"I don't understand why Newcastle Borough Council have decided to do this."
Conservative councillors voted against the proposals, saying they would have an impact on taxi drivers who were already struggling.
But Labour councillor Mark Olszewski, chairman of the public protection committee, accused the Tories of electioneering, saying the authority had a duty to ensure the safety of residents.
Read more:
http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Newcastl ... z2z9gaj8zG
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