A new proposal released from The Scottish Government that aims to tighten taxi licensing laws has been welcomed by the Dundee Taxi Driver Association and Dundee City Council.
Fair Trade
The changes have been proposed by The Government in a bid to make the trade a fairer and safer one for taxi drivers and the public alike by bringing regulation around private hire licensing more closely in line with that of hackney cabs.
The Government’s proposal would grant local councils the authority to limit the number of private hire licenses and allow them to implement compulsory training courses before a new license would be issued.
Chairman of Dundee Taxi Association, Graeme Stephen, backed the proposal saying he hoped it would cut down the number of illegal businesses.
Mr Stephen said; “The changes will address a lot of our concerns but there are still some issues. The main concern about the current system is the variation in enforcement across the country’s local councils.”
More Training
Dundee City Council is looking into more extensive training for drivers which will include customer care, health and safety and also disability awareness. This will be on top of the essential street knowledge test that is already in place.
Dundee Taxi Association has voiced that it would be beneficial to have training on dealing with challenging customers as well as more safety checks carried out on the vehicles.
Every Scottish local authority, taxi association and all MSPs have been consulted about the proposals and the Government aims to release a report in the near future.