Cock-a-hoop after tuk tuk thumbs up
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A POPULAR offbeat vehicle used to ferry customers between two Bewdley pubs will be back on the road following Wyre Forest District Council’s decision to give the owner a licence.
Paul Glover-Winfield was forced to stop using his tuk tuk – a south east Asian motor vehicle – to drop off customers from the Cock and Magpie at the Hop Pole Inn, on the orders of Wyre Forest District Council.
At a meeting last Friday, however, members of the council’s licensing and environmental committee agreed to give Mr Glover-Winfield a private hire vehicle licence until April next year.
It means the 40-year-old can continue to take his customers to the Hop Pole Inn for their dinner reservations.
“It’s absolutely fantastic,” Mr Glover-Winfield said, “I can’t tell you how good it is to have been given the licence. Words can’t describe how I feel. It’s saved the pub and business will now pick up.”
The Shuttle reported in July that Mr Glover-Winfield set up the free service in June because of the lack of parking spaces at the Hop Pole.
People who booked a table at the Hop Pole would meet him at the Cock and Magpie 30 minutes before their dinner reservations for a ride in the tuk tuk.
The district council, however, told him he could not provide the service without a licence because it was classed as private hire.
He explained there had been a downturn in business since he was forced to scrap the free service, which he started offering for a bit of fun.
Mr Glover-Winfield said: “I thought there would be a 50-50 chance that I would get the licence.
“I didn’t know which way it was going to go. I think common sense has prevailed.”
He added that he did not know when the tuk tuk would be back on the road, as he now needed to find a private hire driver.
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