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31
Jan 2023
New Harrogate district taxi rules will be a 'disaster', warns cabbie
A Ripon cabbie has said new rules governing local taxi drivers will be a "disaster" for drivers and people relying on the service in rural areas.
North Yorkshire County Council is next week expected to introduce a single hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy from the spring.
The existing seven district councils, including Harrogate, currently have their own hackney carriage and private hire licensing policies.
But their looming abolition on April 1 prompted councillors to run a consultation between October 25 and January 16 on a new policy that would harmonise the rules across North Yorkshire.
Fifty-two per cent of respondents disagreed with the key proposal of introducing a single zone for North Yorkshire, which would allow cabbies to operate across the county rather than only in their districts. However, the idea still looks set to go ahead.
Richard Fieldman, who owns Ripon firm A1 Cars and runs a Facebook group that includes 52 taxi drivers in Ripon and Harrogate, said:
Mr Fieldman also criticised the council's proposal to end the current restrictions on the number of hackney carriages — even though 45% of consultees opposed this. The Harrogate district limit is currently 148.
He said this would encourage private hire taxi drivers to switch to hackney carriages to avoid their £132 a year operator's licence, which would "flood the limited space there is already".
Read more:
- New taxi fares for North Yorkshire revealed
- Teachers' strike: Closures across the Harrogate district
Mr Fieldman also hit out at draft new rules that would mean hackney carriage licence holders have to get three MOTs a year on cars that are more than seven years old. Currently vehicles up between five and nine-years-old have to have two MOTs a year.
A council spokesman said the new policy incorporated Department for Transport’s taxi and private hire vehicle best practice guidance and allowed the market to determine the level of supply.
He added:
Cllr Carl Les
The Conservative leader of North Yorkshire County Council, Cllr Carl Les, said:
If approved by the county council’s executive next week, the new policy will be adopted from April 1, along with a single set of licensing fees for both hackney carriage and private hire vehicles and a maximum set of fares for hackney carriages.
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