Taxi Driver Online

Not much in the way of concrete figures here, and not wholly clear what the 'taxi driver' licenses refer to, precisely.

It reads like it's about badges, but £259 for a one-year badge seems a tad OTT - ours in Fife are just £65 for one-year

So it could be some sort of average cost of 'taxi' licences - it also says 'taxi drivers licences were on average £134.55', which looks a bit odd, but maybe that's an average of one-year/three-year badges, or whatever.

But the headline figure is for a 74% increase in 'taxi licences' (£149 to £259), which certainly represents a 'hike'

On the other hand, venison dealers and zoos are facing even bigger hikes


Taxi drivers and window cleaners set to face hike in cost of licences

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news ... -licences/

WINDOW cleaners and taxi drivers will see the cost of operating licences soar under new fees proposed in East Lothian.

A review of fees charged by East Lothian Council has recommended the cost of a window cleaner's licence more than double from £89 a year to £207, with taxi driver licences set to increase from £149 to £259.

The review, which compared other local authority fees, found that the average charge for window cleaners was just under £124 and taxi drivers licences were on average £134.55.

Some charges reduced

Some charges which impact community events are recommended to be reduced, with public entertainment licences for temporary events involving between 500 and 2,000 people daily reducing from £423 to £285, and for those with more than 2,000 people and less than 5,000 reducing from £635 to £301.Councillors will be asked to approve a wide-ranging list of new fees at a meeting of the Labour administration’s cabinet next week.

A report to councillors revealed that the local authority had commissioned Lanarkshire-based business management consultants Arneil Johnston in April last year to carry out an independent review of its discretionary licensing fees.

The consultants looked at other Scottish councils’ charges, as well as the cost of overseeing the service before producing the results of their review.

Tattoo artists and piercing services will also see an increase in three-year licence fees from £263 to £404 and, while a three-year licence to sell knives is recommended to be reduced from £384 to £310, venison dealers will be hit with double the fees from £129 to £269.

Animal breeders and people selling pets will also see the cost of licences increase from those varying from £194 to £205 facing a new fee of £403.

The £403 fee will also apply to rehoming and animal welfare organisations unless they are a registered charity.

A licence to operate a zoo in East Lothian will go up from £595 to £1,067, while riding establishments will see an increase in three-year licences from £138 to £400.

The new fees will be put before cabinet for approval at a meeting on Tuesday.

I can't believe there is such a thing as a window cleaner's license.

My brother has been one for the last 35 years and has never had such a thing.

And exactly what is there is enforce?

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IDFIMH

(Just remembered I meant to reply to this when opening Word 2003 to look at the Fife taxi driver conditions - shows how often I use Word 2003 )

Sussex, there doesn't look like much to enforce - it's about being fit and proper like taxi drivers, and there's some stuff about the licence holder ensuring: "that they have sufficient and adequate public liability insurance cover."

And also taxi driver-esque stuff about having their ID badge with them and 'exhibiting' it on demand to "any member of the Public, Police Officer or Council Officer." (Which begs the question, who precisely aren't they duty bound to show their badge to )

And also informing the council about any convictions, FPNs blah, blah...

But I suppose it's all about the fact that the nature of the work means that it's a position of trust and possibly open to abuse, but not sure why that would be precisely compared to a plumber or other tradesman, say, who are actually in the house rather than just outside.

But I'd guess there have been historical issues, although off the top of my head I don't know what they are

But, in short, I'd guess it's all about weeding out potential, er, window lickers

https://www.fife.gov.uk/__data/assets/w ... dance1.doc

Well looks like the mega-hikes are going ahead

Interesting that the new licence for short-term lets has *trebled*

That's because they've actually worked out how long it's taken to process them. Which underlines that it's another badly planned SNP Government disaster, which has destroyed lots of the Air BnB market, for example


Plea for taxi drivers to unite as increased licence fees approved

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news ... -approved/

A PLEA for taxi drivers in East Lothian to come together and establish a new association has been made as the local authority approved new licence fees for the trade.

East Lothian Council’s Labour administration cabinet today approved a revised list of licence charges which will see taxi and private hire drivers pay more, as well as window cleaners and short-term let operators.

During the meeting, cabinet member Councillor Colin McGinn appealed to the county’s taxi drivers to step forward and make sure that their views were heard over future fees.

He said: “In the years I have been on the licensing sub-committee, I have been calling for a taxi driver association in East Lothian to help the council understand their needs.

“It is in their interest and I am making a plea to drivers and taxi owners to come forward. I am sure we could help get one up and running.”

Cabinet gave the go-ahead to changes to licence fees which were proposed after comparing costs with other local authorities.

Window cleaner's licence costs increase

It means that the cost of a window cleaner’s licence will increase from £89 a year to £207, with private hire driver licences set to increase from £149 to £259 and taxi cab drivers facing a rise from £149 to £207.

Cabinet also approved an alternative three-year licence for taxi drivers, window cleaners and some traders which will cost £310 and will be available after they have held a one-year licence, which could reduce future costs.

The cost of a short-term let licence in East Lothian will treble from £390 to £1,067 for five people or less, increasing with the number of guests.

The new fee is the same as one approved for a zoo or a sex entertainment venue.

A report on the review said that the initial short-term let licence fee was an estimate ahead of changes to legislation, which made them a requirement.

It said: “The fee review ensures that each particular licence is not either subsidising or being subsidised by the fees for other licences.

“Accordingly, the proposed fees for a number of licences have decreased while others have been increased. In particular, the fees calculated for short-term let licensing applications have significantly increased.

“These costs have been increased as we now have experience of the actual cost and complexity of processing these licences, together with the cost incurred as a result of an environmental health officer inspecting the premises.

“The initial fee for these applications had to be set in advance of the new statutory regime coming into force and was based on a best estimate of the time that was believed it would take to process applications, notwithstanding that the regime and applications had not been received at that point.

“Since then, we have now had experience of processing these applications and the time required to take these though to determination.”

I struggle to believe that no one in the trade can be bothered to represent drivers.

Every rank has a know it all, as does every firm.

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IDFIMH

I remember seeing something before about window cleaning license. The Council said that they needed to have a DBS, or CRB as it was at the time, and a council license because they needed to be sure that the window cleaners were not casing the houses for possible burglaries.

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Grandad,

Does the Amazon driver need a license, the milkman, the postman, the Sky man, Jeovah Witnesses, etc etc?

Absolute 100% pointless bureaucracy, and I doubt anywhere else in the world has such an utterly stupid requirement.

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IDFIMH

i think you'll find they claim to be licensed by God.

and it looks like our council doesn't issue window cleaners licenses which begs the question are such licenses required by law ?

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

The article above is from Scotland, and the framework legislation for so-called civic licensing (including the trade) includes provision for window cleaners. And it's pretty short and to the point, thus obviously the details have been left to the licensing councils:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/45/section/43

(In Scotland, civic licensing basically refers to everything that isn't liquor licensing.)

I assume there's no equivalent in the English legislation. That's not to say that some English councils don't have a scheme, but I'd guess that if there's no enabling legislation then a legal challenge would probably succeed and the scheme would be declared ultra vires.

Some years ago I think Perth & Kinross council had a licensing scheme for second hand cars. But there was no legislation allowing it, therefore it was challenged, and the challenge succeeded