Taxi Driver Online

May 31, 2008 Saturday

Cruise passengers cab levy sparks row

Daily Echo

CRUISE passengers could be hit with a £1 surcharge as the price to improve the "embarrassing" taxi service at the docks.

It follows complaints about overcharging, long queues, and taxis ignoring passengers from some ships.

Taxi chiefs are today holding an emergency meeting after the council, without consultation, included the controversial charge in a new table of fare rises to be approved next week.

It will pay for a scheme that would open up the lucrative docks market to hundreds more cabs.

Only about 200 hackney carriages - those that can be hailed in the street - are currently permitted to work there.

Now one of the city's largest private hire firms, backed by dock owners ABP, has developed a new customer service system dubbed "Combined Taxis of Southampton", which will include marshals, a booking desk, and a barcoded tracking system.

For the first time all taxis would be free to pick up cruise passengers.

The £1 fee, which could raise up to £1m, would pay for start-up costs, wages, and a rent to ABP.

Scheme architect Lee Haynes, owner of West Quay Cars, claimed the present taxi service for cruise passengers was "embarrassing".

"After spending thousands of pounds on a cruise, passengers are having to wait an hour and a half for a taxi to take them to the station or the airport.

"The only solution is for private hire vehicles to support the existing hackneys that are servicing the docks."

He insisted the £1 levy was justified as value for money for cruise passengers.

"They will actually be shown to a car, they will have advice on how much they should pay, they can track their journey and they won't be ripped off," he said.

But Clive Johnson, chairman of the Southampton Taxi Consultative Council, said: "I think it's totally out of order.

"How can you add a surcharge for passengers who have been on a cruise holiday. Are you going to start charging people who get off trains or get off a plane at Southampton airport?

"We would never sanction charging £1 for passengers."

Mr Johnson, also boss of Radio Taxis, said: "We want the docks to be opened up to the whole of the private hire trade so no one company monopolises it."

Mr Johnson said while he had heard of complaints about taxis working the docks he had not received details about specific incidents that could be addressed.

Cruise industry representatives welcomed the scheme.

Southampton Cruise Partner-ship co-ordinator Sarah Davis said: "By allowing more taxis into the port the passengers will get the service they deserve.

"From a tourism point of view I think this can only improve the passenger's journey experience."

A spokesman for ABP said the scheme was in "embryonic stages".

"We want to set up a system where access can be granted to the port to the maximum number of Southampton-based taxi operators possible to improve the service to cruise customers."

Open up market

He said "a small percentage of the £1 charge" would go to ABP to part-compensate for the "loss of the existing dock privilege scheme".

Southampton City Council refused to release how many complaints it had received about taxi fares.

Councillor Royston Smith, Cabinet member for economic development, said the council would not be receiving any additional money from the levy but recognised the need to open up the market.

Cruise operators Royal Caribbean and Carnival were both unavailable for comment.
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It's a simple enough solution, the company who owns the docks and ranking area opens it up to every Hackney plated vehicle licensed in that area.

Those that wish to book local PH vehicles will do so anyway.

I would have thought that work was very lucrative, so the extra £1 is but a drop in the ocean, or in this case the Solent.

What I imagine has bought this about is the ending of the sec 75 exemption, as before that the world and his wife where picking up, and only a small proportion were licensed.

Now those bad guys have lost all that work to the good guys.

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IDFIMH

I'm a little confused.

To the best of my knowledge, West Quay Cars are P/H and Radio Taxis (Southampton) are a mixed fleet of Hackney and P/H.

That article appears to suggest that the council are 'permitting' P/H to charge an extra £1!!??!!

Not unusual for the press to get it wrong.

I suspect the PH ops asked the council to allow the extra £1 on the cab fare so that they could then get away with putting it on the PH fare.

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IDFIMH