Some taxi drivers have seen their businesses damaged due to the implementation of a single hackney carriage zone for North Yorkshire, according to a councillor.
Cllr Barbara Brodigan, Liberal Democrat councillor for Ripon Ure Bank and Spa, delivered a 238-strong petition to North Yorkshire Council’s ruling Conservative executive this morning that protests against the abolition of the previous seven zones which covered each former district council area.
The changes came into effect on April 1 and means drivers can now operate across the county, rather than being limited to areas such as the former Harrogate district.
But Cllr Brodigan said it had resulted in drivers flooding into urban areas such as Harrogate while rural villages and market towns had been left without taxis.
As part of the petition, residents were surveyed on the impact of the new single zone. Cllr Brodigan claimed one person was overcharged by £20 because a taxi driver got lost and that vulnerable residents are “wary” of drivers they don’t recognise.
Cllr Brodigan said:
“In Harrogate they are having to find extra spaces due to the influx of taxis. Over supply of taxis in hotspots are leaving rural and market towns empty.”
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Despite the single zone already being operational, a report that went before the executive said there had been a mistake in relation to the abolition of the previous seven hackney carriage zones.
Councillors were asked in the report to retrospectively confirm the abolition of the zones again to provide “emphatic clarity to its position”.
However, Ripon-based Richard Fieldman, who represented 70 hackney cab drivers, urged councillors to delay the decision as legal advice he received suggested the decision should be made during a full meeting of the council and not by its executive.
Mr Fieldman said:
“There’s a straightforward statutory process and North Yorkshire Council failed to follow this process.
“On behalf of those I speak for I ask you not to compound an already bad position by passing an illegal position but instead refer the matter to full council for full consideration.”
In response, Cllr Greg White and the council’s chief legal officer Barry Khan both said they were satisfied that the executive had the right to make the decision.
The executive then voted unanimously to confirm the abolition of the seven zones and to create the single county-wide zone.
