Taxi Driver Online

Classic case here of fares are maximums so debating them doesn't matter (highlighted)...

Not sure precisely what's happened here, procedure-wise. Not sure the legislation requires that interested parties have to be represented at committee, so it's maybe more to do with courtesy and local procedure requirements than hard law requirement.


Decision on Angus taxi fares increase pushed down the road after council cock-up
Council licensing chiefs forgot to invite the taxi trade to a meeting set to discuss a possible rise in Angus fares.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/an ... w-blunder/

A decision on whether Angus taxi fares will go up has been delayed after council bosses forgot to ask local operators to a meeting to decide on any possible hike.

Licensing chiefs held their hands up to the human error.

But while a couple of cabbies managed to take up a late invite, councillors decided it was not fair to drive through change without everyone having their say.

Consultation divides taxi trade

The regular fares review has already gone out to consultation.

And the prospect of a rise has split local drivers and operators.

Some claim any increase could be a “fatal blow” to businesses already struggling to survive.

And they do not want to heap more pain on passengers battling the cost of living crisis.

Others say a rise is necessary to keep up with the cost of running vehicles and things like insurance.

Arbroath taxi firms want the status quo to remain.

Forfar and Carnoustie operators back the idea of increases of around 4% – up to 10% for evenings and weekends.

‘Oversight’ emerges at key meeting

The council’s civic licensing committee was due to decide on any fares increase.

However, officials admitted that local operators were not invited until the very last minute due to a blunder.

Forfar taxi boss Mitch Murray – who favours an increase – was one of those unable to attend at short notice.

Committee convener George Meechan told the morning meeting: “Unfortunately, due to an oversight, operators were not informed of the opportunity to attend until late last night.”

He backed a deferral.

“In the interests of natural justice, we want to be seen to hear everything on it,” he said.

Montrose SNP colleague Kenny Braes added: “Especially since there is a difference of opinion, it is absolutely essential they (the operators) have the opportunity to come to the meeting and make their point of view.”

But Forfar Conservative Ross Greig wanted the fares review to be debated.

“The fares (we set) are the maximum operators could charge,” he said.

“If it’s up to the individual operator to decide whether they charge up to that level, I don’t see any reason why we can’t go ahead and set these.”

Councillors voted to defer it to a special meeting of the committee on December 5.

Forfar councillor Linda Clark said: “It’s been an unfortunate error.

“I would like to think we are pulling out all the stops to make sure we do this with complete transparency so that everybody feels comfortable with it.”

What is on the table?

The main Angus tariffs are:

Monday to Friday 6am to 6pm: £4.03 for first mile, £6.31 (two miles), £8.58 (three miles) rising to £35.91 (15 miles)

Nights and weekends: £4.97 (first mile), £7.55 (two miles), £10.14 (three miles) rising to £41.13 (15 miles).

There are different rates for Christmas and New Year.

Forfar Taxi Company want to see the daytime tariff rise to £4.32 for the first mile, and an evening/weekend rise to £5.17.

But the firm says fares for longer trips should be reduced, by up to 8%.

Lorimer Cabs in Carnoustie propose a similar daytime rise, and a 10% evening/weekend increase to £5.45.

Angus consists of mainly smallish towns dotted all over and lots of rural areas, so lots of smallish firms that won't necessarily be directly competing with each other.

And possibly a lot of discounting etc going on, but that won't figure in official discourse. But the councillor here certainly alluding to a lot of that kind of stuff.

But, as regards his point more generally, surely that's more of a reason to discuss whether the official tariff is appropriate, rather than just completely ignoring it?

I'm not sure the trade has any say at committee meetings, councillors should take note of what's in the report and any consultations they have had prior to the committee meeting, and what difference does it make if the trade is present or not?

I wonder if the article is a bit of a mess, in that maybe the full trade wasn't invited to a consultation meeting prior to the committee meeting, hence their views haven't been fully taken into account.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, for what it's worth there was an earlier article a few days before the meeting, which I didn't bother posting because I think most of the substantive stuff was repeated in the article above.

But I'd guess this below is based on consultation responses.

Not sure precisely what the Scottish legislation says about all this, but off the top of my head I don't think it actually requires any trade representation at committee meetings, although there is quite an intricate procedure outlined in the legislation about tariff-setting more generally.

But it's all a bit bizarre in some ways, because the emphasis in the legislation is on *HC plateholders*. So you could be an office proprietor with dozens of cars who doesn't own the cars, and you'd have less formal say than a part-time owner driver who comes out on Saturday night or when he's on 'holiday' from his 'proper job', say. Or you could be a PH driver with a meter set at the HC rates, but you don't exist as far as the fare-setting procedures in the legislation are concerned

Anyway, can't be bothered looking into all of that, but this is the earlier article:


Angus taxi trade split over possible fares hike

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/an ... -review-2/

Some operators fear an increase in Angus taxi fares could be a "fatal blow" to their trade as they struggle to survive.

Angus taxi operators are going in different directions over the idea of a fares increase.

The current rates are due to be reviewed by councillors this week.

But some operators have warned an increase could be a “fatal blow” to their already fragile livelihood.

Others say a rise is needed to survive.

It’s led to a split in opinion and a suggestions ranging from the status quo to increases of up to 8% for some shorter journeys.

What are the current rates?

The main Angus tariffs are:

Monday to Friday 6am to 6pm: £4.03 for first mile, £6.31 (two miles), £8.58 (three miles) rising to £35.91 (15 miles)

Nights and weekends: £4.97 (first mile), £7.55 (two miles), £10.14 (three miles) rising to £41.13 (15 miles).

There are different rates for Christmas and New Year.

Proposals for increases

Forfar Taxi Company want to see the daytime tariff rise to £4.32 for the first mile, and an evening/weekend rise to £5.17.

But the firm says fares for longer trips should be reduced, by up to 8%.

Lorimer Cabs in Carnoustie propose a similar daytime rise, and a 10% evening/weekend increase to £5.45.

However, Arbroath operators have submitted a combined response in support of a freeze.

They say: “We all agree that a fares increase would be a fatal blow to the taxi trade as it stands.

“Things are bad enough for the us at this time.”

Another said: “I am not wanting the taxi fares to go up as people are looking after their pennies for Christmas.

“It is just around the corner so I would rather keep the taxi fares as they are.

“The main reason for ‘no change’ is that diesel per litre was 18p more expensive and petrol 10p per litre more expensive when we last increased the fares.

“It would seem unfair to increase fares at this time, and with everyone still dealing with the cost of living crisis this may actually decrease our trade and make us worse off.”

Angus civic licensing councillors will make a decision on the issue at their meeting on Thursday.