I wouldn't hold out much hope of the Transport Committee providing much assistance in relation to derestriction, Skull.
When it last met a few years ago to discuss the OFT report the members were so far up the cartel's backside you couldn't see them. In particular, I think the current chairwoman is a union person from Liverpool, so she just dutifully followed the union line back then.
So now she's the chairman I think the imeptus for the investigation was the Liverpool hackney cartel moaning about hundreds of Sefton-plated PH operating under a flag of convenience but actually working in Liverpool.
A bit like a PH firm opening in Fife and plating there to get round the £1,500 licence application fee, but actually doing all their work in Edinburgh. Imagine the reaction of the Edinburgh taxi cartel if hundreds of Fife-plated PH started operating in the city. Of course, that woudn't be allowed under the Scottish rules, but it's OK south of the border.
Anyway, I think the restricted numbers aspect was barely mentioned during the whole thing, so given that and in view of the above I'd be very surprised if anything happens in that regard.
And even if it did, the Committee isn't the government, and certainly has no remit in Scotland, so there would be a lot of other barriers in the way before anything concrete happened.
But that doesn't stop the cartels panicking, and of course cartels are always characterised by paranoia and insecurity.
