Taxi Driver Online

Typical confusion between badges and plates here. It talks about three-year licences, presumably the badges, but it doesn't specifically say so. It then starts wittering on about garage testing fees, as if that's for the same licences...

To be fair, there is more specific information at the end, and the stuff about operator licenses is a bit more specific, but I doubt if any member of the public (or councillor) would appreciate the badge/plate nuance below until the very end.


Still fewer taxi drivers in Powys than before Covid-19

https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/2393 ... -covid-19/

TWO types of taxi licence fees are set to rise in Powys next year, while one could drop.

At the Powys County Council Planning, Licensing and Rights of Way committee on Thursday, November 23 councillors will discuss and vote on the proposals.

If approved the potential income to the council from the fees is worth an extra £4,600 to the licensing department which equates to a rise of 3.8 per cent

The report said: “The number of current licences has increased on the last two years but have not yet recovered to pre Covid-19 levels.”

The report explains that fees are calculated using a “toolkit” devised by the All-Wales Licensing Expert Panel with assistance from the council’s finance team.

Fees from 12 neighbouring local authorities are included in the report so that councillors can compare and contrast.

On three year licences Powys proposes charging £284 which ranks it third of 13.

Of the 12 other authorities, Ceredigion Council charges £330 and Torfaen County Borough Council £365.

Some councils have much lower charges, Carmarthenshire County Council charge £137 and Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council charge £138.

On the five year private hire operator licences Powys proposes a new fee of £355 which places it eighth of 12 authorities.

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council charge £115, while Ceredigion did not provide information for this type of licence.

Monmouthshire Council tops the scale with a fee of £837.

The report said: “It must be remembered that it is difficult to make direct comparisons as fees will be specific to local staffing and on-costs, they also factor in the number of licences that are administered by the authority, both these can vary a great deal between authorities."

The report adds that some council’s do their own “in house” testing of vehicles at council garages which add to their costs.

The report said: “In Powys we don’t currently carry out in-house garage checks, we rely on a recent MOT hence the higher vehicle licence fees charged by other authorities.”

If councillors approve the changes – the new fees will go out to consultation in line with the legal requirement.

If no objections are received the changes will come into force on April 1, 2024.

The fees for 2024/2025 which don’t include the cost for DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks are:

- Hackney carriage private hire (1 year): £150 going up from £146 this year.
- Driver licence (3 years): £284 up from £270.50 this year.
- Private Hire Operators (5 years): £355 down from £358 this year.

The current number of licences are:

- Driver licences – 475, down from 516 in 2019/2020.
- Private Hire Operators – 67, down from 69 in 2019/2020.
- Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Vehicles – 408, down from 429 in 2019/2020.

Thanks for clearing that up

But, looking at the context of the list, presumably this is a one-year plate, and it means either HC or PH.

Did they get that name out of a Xmas cracker?

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IDFIMH