Taxi Driver Online

"They are taking away our jobs": say Chesterfield taxi drivers protesting at Chesterfield Town Hall

https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/ ... ll-4816436



Chesterfield taxi drivers gathered in front of the town hall on Tuesday, October 8 to protest against Wolverhampt on-licensed cabs ‘taking away their jobs’.

The city of Wolverhampton Council has a policy to issue taxi licenses to drivers, whether they live in the city or elsewhere.

BBC reported that between April 2023 and March 2024, the City of Wolverhampton Council issued 20,375 cab licenses for drivers living outside of the city, compared to only 813 issued for drivers based in Wolverhampton. The council papers have suggested that this is due to longer processing times and higher fees in other councils.

But while Wolverhampton registered taxi drivers can enjoy lower costs and shorter queues to register, Chesterfield cab drivers said they noticed a drop in income and a lower number of customers due to an increase in the number of out-of-town cabs.

Asim Javed, from Chesterfield, who has been a taxi driver in the town for over four years, is one of the drivers affected.

Asim, who was among drivers attending the meeting with the council said: “It’s a very big issue, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, which are the busiest nights of the week. Wolverhampton drivers, out-of-town drivers, are parking in our taxi ranks, blocking our spaces so we can’t pick up customers.

“There is much more waiting time between the jobs and my income has been much lower. Even though the schools are back and it should be busy, it is not, because there are so many other drivers undercutting everybody else.

"It was a problem before, but it was a small number of drivers. Over the last two months, more and more drivers have been coming to Chesterfield from out of town. Each town has different prices and regulations. They are coming over here, offering cheaper drives and taking our jobs.”

Other Chesterfield protesters shared Asim’s views and expressed similar worries.

Debbie McCann, owner of Central Cars, said: “The reason we are here today is the impact the Wolverhampton drivers are having on our taxi industry, including earning possibilities and safety issues.”

Nisar Suleman, a private hire driver, added: “We are doing a little protest and meeting with the council to tell them about Wolverhampton drivers who are coming over here and taking our work away.”

Omer Rafiq, a private hire and hackney cab driver, said: “It doesn’t feel safe, doesn’t feel fair, it doesn’t make sense at all. It definitely has a financial impact. There are 16 cabs per street in Wolverhampton. They are not working there at all. Can you imagine all these cabs coming out of town taking our work?”

A spokesperson for Chesterfield Borough Council said: “We welcomed local taxi driver representatives to Chesterfield Town Hall for a meeting today, to listen to and discuss their concerns around national rules which mean drivers who are licensed outside of the area can operate within the borough.

“We understand their frustrations and are committed to continuing to work together – however, the powers of local authorities in this area are limited as the current legislation and policy is set at a national level by the Government.”

A spokesperson for City of Wolverhampton Council said: “City of Wolverhampton Council currently licences eight drivers who are resident in Chesterfield.

"While the council has never actively encouraged applications from drivers outside Wolverhampton, existing legislation requires that if an application is submitted and requirements are met, then the application must be granted.

“Applicants have always been able to apply to any licensing authority for taxi licences and the council cannot refuse an applicant simply because they live in a different area.

"It is illegal for licensing authorities to impose a limit on the number of private hire licences it issues. They are also prohibited from interfering in the market and cannot legally take competitive pressure between local businesses into consideration when granting applications.”

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IDFIMH

And that's an odd thing for a 'taxi' regulator to say - isn't the function of licensing to 'interfere' in the market? Think they're maybe just taking a selective approach to what they consider to be 'interference'

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

Usual Wolves boilerplate in response, but can't recall them making the highlighted points previously. And clashes a bit with what they're saying elsewhere about the grooming gangs etc. As highlighted above, in the last decade or so they've given primacy to market forces, and taken a light-touch regulatory approach, as demonstrated by the highlighted quote.

But elsewhere they're saying they're now rowing back on all that for, er, reasons

(Got my stuff the wrong way round in this thread - was sure I'd posted that earlier, but must have got lost with all my fannying about with lost connections and the like )

the problem is this is a situation that has been in the making for several years and cannot be now undone unless there is a seismic change in the law !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The PH trade always adapts to change, be that trivial or seismic.

The drivers will simply license locally. Any change in law will have some kind of lead time allowing drivers to change in plenty of time.

The tories pandered to the likes of Uber, I’m not sure the current clowns in charge will do likewise.

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IDFIMH

if uber donated to party funds then yes they will and uber have been a well oiled machine when it comes to donating to the right politicians to get what they want all arounf the world

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector