Taxi drivers of Milton Keynes were thrilled with the council’s decision to put a cap on the number of hackney taxi licenses available in the town.
Over 100 local cabbies packed out the public gallery at the council meeting on the 15th January to hear the outcome of the proposal to re-regulate the system.
11 Year Fight
In 2002, licensing officers made the decision to de-regulate the hackney trade, allowing anyone to apply for a Hackney Carriage license. Cabbies in the area have since complained that this has allowed the numbers to spiral out of control and has considerably affected their take-home earnings.
The Milton Keynes Hackney Carriage Association applied last year to the council asking them to consider re-regulating the trade stating that there had been a 180% increase in the number of licenses in the town since the deregulation. The total today is 219 compared to only 78 in 2002.
E7 taxi owner, Amjad Nazir, told Cab Direct: “My colleagues and I are over the moon with the decision. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome from the council meeting.
“We’re all working long shifts; some up to 15 hours a day. But when you take into account all the outgoings, it’s really difficult, with the way things are, to make a living.
“We’ve been trying for many years to limit the number of taxis and this is great news for all concerned.”
Attempt to Overturn Decision
Not everyone was in support of the move. Three motions were put forward from councillors at the meeting in opposition to re-regulation.
Councillor Andy Dransfield said: “It seems fundamentally wrong that if anybody wanted to start in the Hackney Carriage trade, they cannot because there are restrictions in place.”
Thankfully, all three were thrown out by councillors who voted 29 to 14, with three abstentions, agreeing that enough evidence had been provided to advocate regulation.