Taxi drivers in Norwich have called on the council to limit the number of black cabs allowed to operate in Norwich, saying the city is so flooded with them & that we are struggling to make a living.
There are currently 217 licensed black cabs in the city & there is not enough rank space within the city. The trouble is people who have lost their jobs in the recession are turning to cab driving and there are simply not enough fares or space to go around. Officers are drawing up a report on whether that might be possible and are asking members of the public whether they think limiting them is a good idea, but here at A2B Taxis Norwich we think its already too late & at the speed the council in Norwich works it will be a while before any action is done.
Andy Scullion (pictured above) is in no doubt Norwich is already at saturation point for black cabs. He said: “Just in the last couple of years we have seen more people becoming taxi drivers & we are lucky here at A2B taxis that we have regular customers & don’t rely totally on rank work like other cabbies.”
“You get a situation where people lose their jobs and they look to taxi driving to earn a living. Sooner or later you came to a saturation point and I think we have got there a couple of years ago. If you go to the taxi rank at the railway station you often see them stretching all the way back around the car park. Mr Scullion said, with insurance costs soaring by 25pc for many drivers and sky high diesel prices, limiting the number of licences was vital to keep taxi drivers in work.”
The council cannot legally refuse to licence a hackney carriage (black cab) once licensing conditions have been satisfied. It can only refuse an application for a hackney carriage vehicle licence to limit numbers if it is satisfied there is no significant ‘unmet demand’ for taxi services within the city. In order to figure out if that is the case. the council might need to bring in consultants to carry out a survey – the cost of which would have to be recouped from hackney carriage vehicle licence fees, not surprising that us taxi drivers will have to foot the bill as the council are already millions in debt!
Fares for Hackney carriages, which are the taxis you can ‘flag down’ at a taxi rank, off the street or booked by phone on 01603 613613 are set by the city council. The city council also licences private hire vehicles, which have to be pre – booked.
Until next time lets be safe out there.
Your taxi news for Norwich commentator.
im glad that you boys are on the case its becoming a joke i work private hire for ABC and iknow your campainging is only for hackneys but i couldnt agree more maybe us private hires need to team up with you lads an do the same thing cos again the private hire firms are just growing in numbers too ..i was earning more workin dayshift 10 yrs ago then what i am now on nights…then you get your company putting up commision were now paying 175 fixed com…now goin up to 180 !
Quite agree Scott Norwich is becoming a joke!
Well here we go again, same old,same old, I don’t have aproblem with capping plates, it don’t or won’t effect us but I understand cabbies worries, There are far to many Private hire taxis to worry about, as look at the types of private hire cabs that are around Norwich, Oh are there 6/7/8 seaters running around??? I remember when private hire were only CARS, so if that was still the case then they won’t have so many contracts as in WHEEL CHAIR work that Hackney cabs were built for, am I not wrong??? So cap and think about the type of private hire Cabs are allowed…
There are too many taxis and private hire cars, both need to be capped.
I am a PHC driver in Glasgow and it’s flooded here too.
We have to organise ourselves and find a national voice.
Councils don’t listen and M.P.s won’t listen. Legislation has to be changed, so we must convince the lawmakers to take our concerns seriously.
I would suggest an online petition. Does anyone else have any ideas.
Capping plates to restrict the number of cabs on the street is fine, but by doing that, you`ll get in the same situation as we were in Norwich years ago whereupon you had people buying old cabs and when the test runs out, keeping the plate alongside with any others they may have and then charging extortionate prices for the plate for any drivers wishing to enter the trade.
“Business is business” i hear you say, but why should individuals be penalised for wanting to earn an honest living, and maybe the person who profits from this racket would have a different opinion if he was one of the people who had to do this to get into the trade.
Plus, what happens if they then unrestrict the plates after a while, thus rendering their plates worthless,
Maybe Norwich City Council should start by looking at the age and condition of some of the cabs already operating in the city and bring in an age related clause to any new hackneys as is the rule with private hire vehicles.
quite a large number of cabs are an absolute disgrace to the trade as they bang, cough, lump and splutter along the road, and lets not make any excuse for the state of some of our drivers!
Lets get together alongside the Hackney Trade Assocciation and come up with more than the most obvious solution to this problem.
A simple short term solution would be for hackneys with odd plate numbers to work the ranks on Monday and Wednesdays with even numbers on Tuesdays and Thursdays but I suspect there are too many greedy drivers to even consider this option.
In response to the above short term solution
mentioned by G kent, greed has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Over the past four years i have gone from working five nights to six nights, onto working split shifts covering both day rank and evening rank, just to earn somewhere near the amount i need to cover my mortgage, two children at home,rising bills etc etc and this is with my wife working to contribute as well.
Capping the amount of plates issued is the only logical answer to this problem.
The hours i work are not by choice but through necessity.
Maybe we could have blue cabs on a Monday,red cabs on a Tuesday,silver cabs on a Wednesday,etc etc or weed out any drivers over the age of 60,or anyone who visits a betting shop or buys a ‘hovis’ loaf instead of Asda own brand, because they definitely don’t need the money.