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Fall in wheelchair-accessible taxis in East Renfrewshire sparks end to fees
Fees and car age limits for taxi and private hire drivers with wheelchair accessible vehicles in East Renfrewshire are being dropped after a sharp fall in availability.
Rules around wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV) were relaxed during the pandemic but there has been a “significant” drop-off in numbers, with just four reportedly on the roads.
East Renfrewshire Council had suggested reintroducing a rule which would have meant all new applicants for taxi and private hire licences would need a WAV.
But the trade warned the move could lead to fewer drivers as the vehicles are expensive to buy, with some costing around £70,000.
After hearing from drivers and a disability support group at a meeting last month, the licensing committee decided to remove age limits for WAVs, which will be subject to annual inspections.
WAVs had to be seven years old or below when first licensed and couldn’t be licensed once older than 12. Officials had believed it was “appropriate” for these limits to remain.
The committee also recommended to the council’s cabinet that no fee should be charged for new or renewal applications. However, councillors chose not to make all new applicants have WAVs.
Previously all applications for new taxi and private hire car licences had required vehicles to be wheelchair accessible. This was relaxed in April 2021 due to the impact of the pandemic on the taxi trade.
A council report revealed that, at that time, there were 40 WAVs in East Renfrewshire, but that has “dropped dramatically both as a result of lapsed licences and drivers replacing WAVs” with other vehicles when they renewed their licence.
At the meeting, Paul Macdonald, a director at Eastwood Mearns Taxis, said requiring all new applicants to have a WAV had previously led to a reduction in drivers.
He said it was “far, far too expensive” for people to buy the vehicles and removing the licence fee would have a “miniscule impact”. “Nobody is going to think saving £200 or £300 on a grant is going to help them put an extra £20,000 vehicle on the road.”
Mr Macdonald suggested grants, from the council or government, for drivers would help, although admitted they were unlikely. He said there had been an extra charge for larger vehicles, but it had been removed due to concerns over discriminating against disabled passengers.
His firm’s cars can take passengers whose wheelchairs fold down, but anyone with a fixed wheelchair would probably need to book “a week in advance”.
“I don’t get complaints on my desk at all about people not getting wheelchair accessible taxis,” he said. “There’s not a problem in my mind.”
James Kyle, from the Scottish Taxi Federation, said he didn’t believe the situation was “as bad as we think it is”. “There will be disabled people who can’t get taxis but I can’t get a taxi sometimes and I work at them.”
He said the “taxi trade is not an attractive trade any more” but removing an age limit for vehicles could help drivers by allowing them to buy older cars.
John Paul Duffy, from the Scottish Private Hire Association, said demand for WAVs was “noticeably low” while the financial burden for drivers is “substantial… particularly amid the cost of living crisis”.
He suggested the council could incentivise drivers, including through removing licence fees and scrapping age limits on vehicles.
Savio D’Souza, from the My Disability Plus action group, suggested a working group should be set up, alongside the trade, to find a way forward.
“The council can’t actually control when these taxis are available,” he said. “By simply changing numbers there is no evidence to support that this will actually mean there is an increase in availability of these taxis.”
Mr D’Souza also said charging disabled people more for travelling was “not really seen as fair”. He suggested some disabled people had “just given up and are making other provisions” due to lack of availability.
It had previously been reported disability rights groups highlighted struggles to “organise wheelchair-accessible vehicles for scheduled trips, particularly those coinciding with school run times”.
The changes agreed by the committee have been adopted for an initial trial period of 18 months. A survey will now be commissioned to gather evidence on “demand and usage of WAVs”.
They are described as a “vehicle, whether a taxi or private hire vehicle, which is of a size capable of accommodating a wheelchair user (in their wheelchair) and at least one other passenger, provides a safe means of both entry and egress from the vehicle and has an appropriate means of securing the wheelchair whilst in transit”.
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