Government petition aiming to address CROSS-BORDER taxi licensing ‘loopholes’ gathers momentum
A Government petition demanding an end to cross-border taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing rules is gathering support.
The petition calls on Government to set a new requirement that would push all taxi and PHV drivers to be licensed only in the areas they operate in.
The petition’s creator, Waleed Hussain, says the the Deregulation Act 2015 has ‘created loopholes that allow big companies to monopolise this trade, which has affected rates’.
Hussain goes on the add: “Some councils are reducing the rates for taxi and private hire vehicle licences and making it easier to get a licence, eg. not needing to prove knowledge of local areas. This has resulted in a huge increase in licences being granted by some councils.
“People who are being banned from holding a licence with one council are going to other councils where they can easily obtain licences. The law has to change. Drivers should only be allowed to work in areas they have a licence for.”
Another taxi driver who contacted TaxiPoint highlighted the importance of the petition. They said: “We’re seeing our trade now being obliterated by Uber, and more Wolverhampton plated drivers plying-for-hire as hackney drivers would.
“We have been without taxi enforcement for a period of 14 months and they’ve simply done as they please in the town with little we can do to prevent this other than report our evidence to their relevant authority - where little is ever done because they have hundreds of thousands of private hire drivers now plated.
“We want the current legislation to be reviewed by government and cross border hire to be abolished to keep the hackney trade alive and well and private hire can still thrive in a healthy way.”
The petition has already gathered over 1,000 signatures and requires 10,000 for a Government response.
