Taxi Driver Online

After reading the new legislation for hack and ph drivers for the gateshead area,i must agree on most of the items in the legislation,but a couple in particular grabbed my attention,
hack's no children under the age of 10 allowed in the front of the vehicle, this is not mentioned in the ph forms,after contacting the council they confirmed it was hackney only it must apply to,regardless of new seatbelt laws he said it was no children at all under 10 regarless of seatbelt laws, ok so what about those who have school contracts etc where including the escort one of the children are up front in the likes of the traffic,vivaro etc,if these vehicles have no more empty seats they cant do the contract am i right.

the other is a more serious one.
PH / Hack drivers new licensed vehicles must be no more than 3 years old with a max on the road life as a phv as 8 years.
have they not shot thereselves in the foot with this,
my office has 3 part time drivers,2 have 7 year old vehicles and 1 has an 8 year old vehicle,there cars are in excellent mechanical and bodily condition,they can only work part time due to other commitments,family or other part time work,they have all sai they cannot afford to replace there car with an under 3 year old vehicle as its not cost effective for them,but all have said if they decide to carry on working which they are now undecided they will simply plate there vehicles in tynedale or bewrick,this new rule is not mentioned in the hackney pages,it only effects ph drivers,surely this will force 100's of part time or even full time drivers either off the road or out of district costing the gmbc thousand in revenue.
Might i add i am not a part time driver and am fortunate enough to be in a position to replace my vehicle every 3 years,but i feel for those drivers who are and will be forced out of there jobs.

Did you ask them how it can be safe for a Mondeo taxi and not safe for a Mondeo PH?

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IDFIMH

im afraid i didnt ask,which in hindsight i should have,this then brings up another queery,when renewing your hack saloon vehicle i wonder if it must conform to the new specifications,ie M1 wheelchair access vehicle,

You would have to ask your local licencing officer. Different councils have differing policies on this.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

IMO no.

We could get into the 'is a 8 year old car with 50,000 on the clock worse than a 3 year old one with 100,000' debate, but the newer the car the better.

Our customers deserve better than some of the stuff our trade dishes up to them.

Anyone can get a three year old Skoda for £5,000. Is that so much of a problem?

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IDFIMH

i totally agree,customers should get the best possible service we can provide,some drivers have 7,8,9 year old cars,some are classy mercs etc some are a little on the banger side,but i see this step as either forcing a part time driver off the road,but more so i feel we will see a load of drivers simply going for the cheaper option and plating there cars out of district.

Well at least the full time drivers should have more work, and they should be our priority, not the weekenders.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

And if they go elsewhere to get plated, then that will just underline the current mess that is taxi and PH licensing.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk