Taxi Driver Online

I live in a delimited area, but interestingly, we don't have any Council Houses to be repossessed. As we dont actually have ANY Council Houses at all.

So, no plate repossession problems here, Matey.

Just a bit hard to find anywhere to live, if you are a (comparatively low earning) taxi driver.

Its a true blue free market zone. All the Council houses sold off a few years ago for £10,000 each (interestingly to ex Concil employees).

PS. A cheap three bed will set you back just over £200,000 now.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Andy, we are still fighting our corner at the airport but if you look back to one of my posts I did say that I had to refrain from going public.
You never know (with the plethora of guests, non de plumes etc who is actually on the site.
With reference to that perhaps we should be looking at registering nick names so at least administrators know who is who. Personally I,if I want to say something , will always attach my name. But then I never say any thing controversial except perhaps that Man City will win every competition that they enter.
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

I don't doubt for a second you are doing your damnedest.

My point was that the so-called leaders of the trade, are spending loads of time on one issue, with letters to this that and the other, and with nice jazzy websites, whilst it appears they aren't too concerned by an actual event.

I mean, how much help have you had from the national HC leadership?

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IDFIMH

Ged,
you are right but you can see for yourselves, it dont take much to get threats of legal action or the boys comming down.
just the truth

Some good stuff in your post John, but I think that as regards your view on what might be called 'market transparency' you've effectively done what that OFT did - ie sum up a complex and untransparent market in a sentence or two, whereas the reality is a bit more complicated.

Our recent article tried to shed a bit of light on this (or at least raise more questions!), but I would say that it's really not a thing that any of us can give anything like a definitive answer on.

Rightly or wrongly consumers are afforded all sorts of protection in untransparent markets these days, and the point is surely that in the market for plates there is no protection against people's lack of knowledge of the market.

As I said earlier, if the OFT can produce pages and pages of stuff about consumer issues as regards paying a few quid to hire a taxi, then I think their dismissal of consumer issues in relation to buying plates in a few lines is lacking in credibility - they might have been better using their resources studying the market in plates rather than the pointless paper about plate valuations, for example.

Dusty

Interesting isnt it that only our industry has excess profits?

when the oft did a survey of the chemist market, grocery market airline market there was no mention of exess profits

one thing in an open market I will be for ever gratefull for thats getting rid of awful Halcrow Fox.

I didn't read the pharmacy report in full ( ) but I'm sure I read a bit about any excess profits being whittled away by lower prices offered to customers.

The problem with excess profits is that normally it's difficult to seperate them from the normal profits - eg if you sell a chemist shop then if numbers are restricted then part of the shop value will be due to other assets like property and goodwill, so the exact valuation of any excess profits is difficult.

But since it's not difficult to estimate plate values (since the value of the vehicle sold with it is reasonably easy to ascertain) it's obviously easy to point to the existance of excess profits.

It's the same with taxi businesses to an extent if more than the plate and vehicle is being sold, but since information on the value of 'street car' taxis is normally available, then this can easily be subtracted from the total value of the business to give its 'normal' value.

Dusty

no you didnt read of excess profits, promise you didnt its Halcrow Fox who themselves opperate a limited market

Dusty

I hope my individual comments didn't come across as trying to portray Market transparency in the purchase of Hackney Carriage licenses.

I was trying to put across the fact that nearly all Hackney licences that change hands for monetary gain are in the main bought by individuals who either work or have worked in the industry.

My experience tells me that in the main licences are purchased by individuals who have tracked out somebody else’s vehicle and then realised that the £200 they are paying for a night track would be better spent on buying a licence. I suppose the added incentive is that he can then employ another driver on his vehicle and I suspect he realises that the money he gets from this other driver will pay for the loan he took out to buy the licence in the first place. The person I'm refering to will of course already know the state of play regarding deregulation because he works in the industry.

How many consumers do you know outside the industry that have bought licences for huge sums of money and do not hold a badge of any type?

In reality, licences stay within the trade at one level or another, whether it be for personal use or for the purpose of tracking a vehicle out for profit.

If consumer transparency where the issue then perhaps the sale of licences should also be transparent. Perhaps those licenses that are for sale should be advertised by the council and sold with a health warning saying that the council reserve the right to deregulate Taxi numbers as and when they see fit. The licence holder would get his money and the purchaser would get fair warning as to the councils intent. We all know that’s not going to happen so it takes us back to my original comment about not parting with your money until you are satisfied its safe to do so.

Transparency in the sense of buying a licence resides in the buyers own knowledge of whether he understands section 16 of the 1985 Transport act, EU articles 81, 82 and 86 and last but not least the GATT agreement. The latter two are purely based on competition and are closely linked to what the OFT original enquiry was all about. Article 82 is the main plank of legislation, which overrides section 16 of the Transport act.

The OFT is allied to the DTI which has been given the responsibility to search out and repeal all legislation which is incompatible with EU Competition law. Hence, this investigation into the Taxi trade and in particular section 16 of the Transport act. All these legislative acts should have a bearing on how wisely a person spends his money when considering such purchase as a licence.

I'm sure everyone interested in this debate knows that so far there have been no challenges on licence refusal based on European law, especially article 82. We have established law regarding section 16 of the Transport act by way of stated case. Lord Justice Woolf was the main architect in establishing the rights of a local authority to deny a licence application until such time a survey for demand had been undertaken. That is the precedent set today but I expect future challenges will not be based on section 16 of the 1985 Transport act they will probably be based on article 82 of EU competition law and the GATT agreement. With GATT, the appeal is conducted by an appeals panel in Geneva, there is no recourse by law, once they have made a decision it is final.

As recently as last year Reading borough council voiced reservations that Gats will make section 16 of the transport act impotent. If anyone is interested in how Gatt might effect future Taxi licencing Type this in your browser "GATT and taxi licensing" It may be of some use.

Best wishes

John Davies.
Manchester.

And your point is?

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IDFIMH

In my manor John, about 10-15%.

They are owned by accountants, solicitors, café owners, some by the taxi operators (who don't work), council officials, builders, firemen, pizza shop owners, and a few more that I can't remember.

Roll on the end of the 120 days.

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IDFIMH

However, if the vehicle is being made full use of does it really matter. As long as the public are being served and the vehicle is not laid up somewhere.

Now, I am not saying that I agree with it though.

Sod it. Keep forgetting to log in.. The above was posted by scanner

excess profits is a term used for profits created by government policy, like banks who used to have windfall profits from decisions to hicke interst rates, electricity industry has had simular, we dont have excess profits its taking the [edited by admin], halcrow fox invented it.

you cannot tell me that taxi drivers are making a mint, (though no doubt you will try)

the system of tarriff regulation prevents it.

To a degree yes, but the tariff has to cope with 100% of the trade, not just the 10-15%.

So yet again, those not really working in the trade, benefit on the backs of those that are.

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IDFIMH