Taxi drivers in Stoke-on-Trent, angered by a proposed increase in their yearly licence fee, have persuaded the local council to make changes that will make life easier for cabbies.
Taxis will soon be able to use all bus lanes across Stoke-on-Trent, while action against unlicensed drivers has been promised. As a result, drivers have scrapped a petition against the proposed licence fee increase, which is going up from £235 to £242 a year.
Abdul Rauf, chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Hackney Carriage Association, originally submitted a petition containing 228 names. But now he says Association members are delighted to see long-standing concerns being tackled.
“The council has made us aware that they need to put the fees up because of the extra workload they have taken on,” he said.
“They’re putting out more services for hackney carriage drivers and they need to have more staff to do that. They’ve also promised there will be more staff out there to root out the problem of rogue drivers picking up bookings.
“They also say all bus lanes will be made available to hackney carriage drivers.
“On those grounds, we’ve decided to agree with the licence increase and the petition will be withdrawn.”
Rogue cab drivers have long been a bone of contention for The Hackney Carriage Association.
Cabbie Dave Burgess-Pearson commented: “The main problem we’ve got is taxi drivers overcharging and we’ve not been seeing any enforcement from the city council.
Explaining the city council’s plans, Glynn Cross, principal licensing officer, said: “We’ve spoken to the hackney carriage drivers about the licence increases and we’re ready to work with them on identifying private hire drivers who pick up fares without pre-booking.
“A report will also go before the city council to discuss allowing hackney carriages to use bus lanes.”