In Mr Roland's PHM opinion, he states;
All I know is that some 94 councils in England and Wales still retain the numbers limits; that is 20 more than ten years ago, so there is clear and unequivocal evidence that councils have been re-regulating - because of the effects imposed upon them by their deregulating status.Oh dear.
Not everyone agreed with the viewpoint taken by the OFT, including the then government, but no-one questioned their numbers in respect of the number of councils that restrict, and the number of councils that allow free entry to the taxi trade.
In their report, 9 years ago, they stated that 45% of the 343 licensing authorities restricted taxi numbers, down for 74% in 1986. So that roughly mean 154 councils then restricted.
The following year (2004) the DfT wrote to the 151 councils that still restricted taxi numbers asking them to justify their policies. At that time TDO's good friend JD started his restrictions list, which has been kept going since he sadly left us.
JD's restrictions list
This list is an accurate up to date list, and shows that only 86 councils still restrict taxi numbers, and that includes those few councils that have re-restricted, and the one council that has re-delimited (my word of the day).
Quite where Mr Roland got his stats from is unclear, but what is crystal clear is they are so far from the truth that one wonders why he put them in his magazine.
He should know better.
![Shame on you [-X](./images/smilies/eusa_naughty.gif)