Taxi Driver Online

Sheffield MP Clive Betts asked this question about Taxis to population ratios in the House of Commons in March 2005
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Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of taxis per head of population in each metropolitan authority. [218390]

Charlotte Atkins: The estimates are given in the following table.

Met. district Taxis per 1,000 head of population

Gateshead 0.9
Newcastle on Tyne 3.1
North Tyneside 0.7
South Tyneside 1.5
Sunderland 1.1
Knowsley 1.6
Liverpool 3.2
St. Helens 0.4
Sefton 1.0
Wirral 0.6
Bolton 0.4
Bury 0.5
Manchester 1.9
Oldham 0.4
Rochdale 0.5
Salford 0.4
Stockport 0.4
Tameside 0.7
Trafford 0.5
Wigan 0.4
Bradford 0.5
Calderdale 0.3
Kirklees 0.6
Leeds 0.6
Wakefield 0.3
Barnsley 0.3
Doncaster 0.4
Rotherham 0.2
Sheffield 1.1
Birmingham 1.1
Coventry 1.7
Dudley 0.5
Sandwell 0.1
Solihull 0.2
Walsall 0.2
Wolverhampton 0.4

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which metropolitan councils have placed limits on the numbers of licensed taxis; what the limits are in each case; and which metropolitan councils have placed no limits on the number of taxis. [218391]

Charlotte Atkins: Our latest statistics, as at 31 March 2004, show that 26 metropolitan authorities place a limit on the number of taxis they license. Those authorities, together with their respective limits, are listed as follows:

Authority Number

Newcastle on Tyne 2,000
South Tyneside 224
Sunderland 306
Knowsley 240
Liverpool 1,417
Sefton 271
St Helens 63
Bolton 104
Manchester 833
Oldham 85
Rochdale 103
Salford 78
Stockport 114
Tameside 143
Trafford 103
Wigan 136
Bradford 224
Calderdale (11)65
Kirklees 217
Leeds 402
Wakefield 96
Barnsley 65
Rotherham 48
Solihull 32
Walsall 60
Wolverhampton 92


(11) Limit applies in only one licensing zone.

2 Mar 2005 : Column 1193W

10 metropolitan authorities do not impose a limit on the number of taxis they license:

Gateshead

North Tyneside

Wirral

Bury

Doncaster

Sheffield

Birmingham

Coventry

Dudley

Sandwell

We have written to those authorities which control taxi numbers requesting that they undertake a review of their policy, and if they decide to retain a limit that they publish a justification of that policy by the end of March 2005.
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