Agenda item

To consider the report and make any recommendations to Executive.

The committee resolved to recommend that the Executive Committee looks at all the factors that determine taxi driver incomes, the total impact on income of the proposed changes and at comparisons across rural authorities with regard to day/time pricing and days charged at time and a half when coming to a decision.

Public Statements were read by Jared Colclough and Robin Colclough.

Robin Colclough:

“Hello my name is Robin Colclough, and I have been a licenced taxi driver in Taunton Deane for very nearly 30 years. I have been the owner & operator of Scorpio cars for 28 of those years.

I am also the spokesperson for the Taunton taxi drivers and owners trade association, When we saw the first proposed tariff change, we were extremely worried about the following points,

The change to the timing of time and a half from 22;00 to 23;00 and the loss of Saturday daytime would have a devastating effect on taxi owners but more importantly a crippling effect on a drivers ability to earn a living wage.

A driver who normally works these hours would see a average loss of nearly £80 a week in takings, bad enough for the owner but critical for the driver on commission, this would equate to £2000 a year in lost earnings for a driver on the national average commission of 50% - even after taking into account the increase in the basic tariff the driver would still be down over £1200 a year in earnings.

In previous years that might be the loss of a week away with the kids in summer, now it could be the gas or electric bill that doesn’t get paid!

Drivers on 50% commission very rarely earn minimum wage and evenings and weekends are the chance to make up weekly pay.

If they lose this opportunity, then I can assure you Taunton will steadily lose drivers who will leave for better paid jobs.

This also applies to owners who will struggle to maintain their business’s with lower earnings.

When time and half was reduced from 23:30 to 22:00 I personally presented some research I did to the licensing committee.

The basic premise of this research was, the time at which 6 large companies in Taunton paid an enhanced hourly rate,

The earliest was Maynards bakery who paid a higher rate to those starting their evening shift at 17:00 the latest was Asda who paid a higher rate from 21:00. When the time was lowered from 23:30 to 22:00 we, as a trade, made a promise not to ask for it be to any lower in future. The proposal to move it back to 23:00 is a low blow we never expected. It is bad enough that we have to wait until 22:00 but 23:00 is quite simply not fair.

I can absolutely guarantee that any and all passengers traveling after 22:00 will be paid an enhanced hourly rate long before the taxi driver is.

A lot of taxis in Taunton cover school run contracts for Somerset Council, at a rate lower than metered rate. The ability to earn extra from time and a half to cover the bills associated with the business and to earn a living themselves isn’t a desire but an absolute necessity.

Whist I do not wish to labour a point, The earnings from working at time and a half as per the current tariff are critical for the continuation of taxi businesses in Taunton Deane.”

Jared Colclough:

“Hello, My name is Jared Colclough, I have been a licensed taxi driver in Taunton Deane for nearly 14 years, I am the owner / Operator of Grab-A-Cab Taunton Ltd, a small taxi business running 4 Taxis.

The extra charge of £2 per passenger over four in 6 and 8 seater taxis is in no way enough to cover the extra cost of buying and running these vehicles.

Six and Eight Seater Hackney Vehicles cost between 30 & 40% more to buy and roughly the same in extra insurance premium costs, they are also far less economical in fuel, 25 MPG v 40+ for a four seater saloon car.

A fare to wellington from Taunton currently costs £20 at day rate, £30 at time and a half, a six seater vehicle carrying 5 passengers after 22:00 can currently charge £40 for this journey, if the new tariff is introduced they would on be able to charge £32.

The extra £2 would barely cover the extra fuel used and would go no way towards the extra purchase and running costs.

The longer the journey the more deficit the owner is into, a journey from Taunton to Bridgwater at the 3 current rates would be £30 - £45 & £60 but at the proposed tariff the maximum chargeable with 5 passengers would be £47 with all the aforementioned costs, we realise with the proposed rate change in the new tariff that these journey prices would go up but the negative effect would be the same, These taxis owners would very quickly abandon the larger vehicles as they would no longer be economically viable.

The traveling public would be restricted to 4 seaters, The effect of this when traveling home at the end of the night is as follows.

TAUNTON TO WELLINGTON

1 six seater £40

2 X Four seaters £60

TAUNTON TO BRIDGWATER

1 x Six Seater £60

2 X four Seaters £90

As you can see, the loss of the 6-8 seater fleet would have a huge knock on cost for transport and ultimately a loss of people choosing to travel further than the local pub for their evening’s entertainment, or possibly taking the risk of drink driving to save the cost of 2 Taxis, a consequence that horrifies the taxi trade.

In conclusion – I would like to say that the trade by and large is against the tariff first proposed but is universally in favour of the 2nd and amended tariff proposal which is a maintenance of the status quo to include an increase to the base rate that is desperately needed by the trade to go some way towards offsetting the increase in business costs and the ever rise in cost of living.

We would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak and look forward to the conclusion of your deliberations.”

John Rendell, Licensing Manager, gave a report that detailed the process and modelling of the new taxi fares table, which is bringing 4 tables from districts together.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

·       What about when contracts come up for renewal? Contract renewal is a separate process, it is not at a metred rate. Those won’t change until September.

·       There is a need to balance taxi drivers needs to earn a living with vulnerable people reliant on taxis.

·       There is not enough information on comparable taxi fares across the country. There is a league table of 344 authorities available.

·       What proportion of journeys require larger vehicles?

·       Would a 10 mile journey be a more useful measure with the rurality of Somerset? The distance makes no difference as it is metred, you can extrapolate 2 miles to 10 miles.

·       As these tables only set the maximum rate, people are still free to negotiate prices with operators.

·       What is driving the desire to harmonise everything? There are several benefits, each rate would need to be reviewed separately, and then amended, taking time. It makes it fair and even across the county. It is still a maximum so there will be some variants.

·       Are these rates a price cut in Taunton? No, the original proposal in January was. The new one addresses the concerns raised by Taunton drivers.

·       Appendix 5 – We have chosen the higher end of fare charges, so they will increase? Yes, this is to balance changes to night time and weekend charges.

·       In Mendip and South Somerset it will be a larger increase? Yes.

·       Due to when taxi ranks are busiest, on the weekends and evenings, the increase during the week won’t offset the loss of earnings from reduction in time and a half in the evenings and weekends.

·       Where are we in the democratic process? The decision needs to be made by the 8^th of May.

·       There isn’t enough data to make an honest assessment of what the price should be.

The committee resolved to recommend that the Executive Committee looks at all the factors that determine taxi driver incomes, the total impact on income of the proposed changes and at comparisons across rural authorities with regard to day/time pricing and days charged at time and a half when coming to a decision.