Taxi Driver Online

Taxi drivers lose out in car battle

Taxi drivers in Kidderminster have lost a fight to keep their vehicles on the road for longer than seven years, after earlier being given a glimmer of hope.

They were encouraged over the renewal deadline when one driver was granted a five-month extension.

But council chiefs today said there were no plans to alter the policy which bans vehicles from being licensed beyond the existing seven-year limit.

They say the rule is aimed at protecting the safety of passengers.

Trevor Owen, a member of Wyre Forest Taxi Association, took his appeal against the restriction to town magistrates and was granted a five-month extension for one of his vehicles.

Many taxi owners have claimed the seven-year limit creates an extra financial burden because they are forced to buy new vehicles even though their existing ones are still roadworthy.

But Brian Kent, principal licensing officer for Wyre Forest District Council, said: “The council is not, however, going to change its policy which was agreed in 1997 because of concerns about public safety.

“The restriction applies to all vehicles and does not allow for licences to be extended longer than seven years after being granted.”

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

another f*ckwitted council.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

So that will apply to WAVs as well if they have them

Love to know exactly what elements of public safety he is on about.

IMO age limits aren't evidence of a good sound licensing department, they are evidence of p*** poor enforcement.

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IDFIMH

I hope somewhere in his policy the words 'normally' or 'in most instances' or 'usually' appear. Else it would be 100% illegal.

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IDFIMH

Its nothing to do with Passenger safety..its just another example of the Idiotic and wasteful council Idealogy of "Just because We can We will".

It may appear Ok for these council Wallahs to be spending needless Millions of our money on half baked and ill conceived Ideas....but its wholly unacceptable that in these Difficult time to expect the Public to be Able to Implement their ludicrous 7 year rule.

If its elected councillors doing this I'd bl**dy well make sure they never get re-elected into any position of power ever again...

Taxi policy ruled absurd


THE taxi drivers of Wyre Forest sympathise with Mr Mitchell of Lloyds Garage, Stourport, regarding the CPO served on him by the district council.

We, too, have suffered from these bully boy tactics. However, on January 12, we finally had our day in court regarding our long-standing dispute with this council who are determined to impose a fleet of wheelchair-accessible taxis on people despite overwhelming evidence that this will cause great distress and hardship to those unable to access this type of vehicle.

Like Mr Mitchell, we too were beaten with a large and expensive stick; however the stick in our case, although wielded by the council, was paid for by district ratepayers.

We were successful with three specimen appeals because the council chose to offer no defence. Each side paid their own costs, ours estimated at around £20,000 and so one would presume the council’s (ratepayers) costs would be similar.

By not defending the appeal, the council avoided the embarrassing ordeal of having the overwhelming evidence of witness statements against their policy being heard in open court.

This fact, however, did not escape the attention of District Judge Morgan who, in summing up, described the council’s policy as absurd.

Although we have won these appeals, this will not affect the council’s policy; nothing will change as the council argued successfully that the magistrates court was not empowered to change policy, however absurd it may be.

We again challenge this council to justify its policy on accessible taxis, not to us drivers, but to those who are directly affected – those with differing degrees of disability, both those who use wheelchairs and those who don’t.

We propose to arrange a public meeting where all interested parties can attend, those who support us and those who don’t, someone who uses a wheelchair actually discussing their transport needs with someone who uses a walking frame, someone who must have a wheelchair-accessible vehicle talking to someone who must have a saloon car.

And so we say to our council leader, grab this opportunity to meet these people so affected by this policy and listen to their concerns and find a way in which they all can be treated equally.

That is all they are asking of you and that is what they deserve.

We wish to sincerely thank all of those who have agreed to make witness statements on our behalf and on behalf of those disabled people who are affected by this policy.

A special thanks to those councillors (particularly Health Concern leader Howard Martin) who have taken the time to listen and understand the concerns of those whom they represent and not least to our legal team of Bryan Roland, Donna Short and Peter Maddocks who have done brilliantly to get this appeal to court despite this council’s persistent attempts to block it. When the opposition quits the field, you win!

WYRE FOREST TAXI ASSOCIATION

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin