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29
Aug
Will plans to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis in North Yorkshire work?
It’s a question which has faced council officers for the last three years — how do you increase the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis in North Yorkshire?
Across the county, just one cab for every 9,000 people is suitable for wheelchair users, leaving disability campaigners demanding action to increase the figure.
The Stray Ferret has reported extensively on the problem, including the former Harrogate Borough Council’s failed attempt to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicle licences in 2021.
This week, North Yorkshire Council unveiled its latest plan to tackle the issue by making every new hackney carriage licence application from April 2025 wheelchair-accessible vehicle compliant.
But will the proposal work and is it supported by the trade and campaigners?
Not a new problem
The problem over a lack of wheelchair-accessible taxis is not new.
In June 2021, Harrogate Borough Council took the unusual step of removing a cap on taxi licences in an effort to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicle licences in the district.
The move came after a council-run study concluded wheelchair users were suffering from a “great deal of anxiety” over worries they could be left stranded due to a lack of accessible vehicles.
At the time, just 22 taxi licences out of 148 were for wheelchair-accessible vehicles in the Harrogate district.
The borough council's plan was to lift the cap on licences for the first time in 30 years and offer new licences to wheelchair vehicles.
Cabbies described the move as an effective “deregulation” of the market and warned it would end up with more licences than was necessary to meet demand.
However, 12 months later, the Stray Ferret reported that despite the council’s ambitious plan to tackle the problem, the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles remained at 22.
Fast forward to the present day and North Yorkshire Council, which has replaced the now defunct borough council, is left with the same problem.
After controversially overhauling the licensing system in North Yorkshire by allowing drivers to operate anywhere in the county, the council has turned its attention to wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
Currently, only 70 hackney carriage licences are wheelchair-accessible, which is the equivalent of one cab for every 9,000 people.
In a report, Simon Fisher, the council’s licensing development lead, pointed out that the best performing rural authorities have one cab per every 2,000 people.
It would mean that the council would need an additional 200 licences to reach that ratio.
As a result, the council has gone one step further than Harrogate Borough Council and opted to make it a requirement that new licences for hackney carriages must be wheelchair accessible from April 2025.
In an effort to give current drivers enough time to adapt to the measure, renewals of existing licences will have to meet the same criteria from January 2030.
Mr Fisher said in his report the move was the best way to reach the desired outcome.
He said:
Although imposing a mandatory wheelchair-accessible requirement on all licensed vehicles would be likely to achieve the desired outcome, the council must have regard to the Regulators’ Code (Department for Business Innovation & Skills, Better Regulation Delivery Office) and avoid imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens where the desired outcome could be achieved by less burdensome means.
‘Not the answer’
But will the council’s plan work?
Richard Fieldman, who has run his taxi in Ripon for 29 years, is sceptical.
Mr Fieldman said cab drivers are already feeling the pinch since last year's introduction of the single licensing zone.
Although he understands the council’s motives for increasing the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, he believes the move will further increase expenses on new drivers.
He said:
I can see what they are trying to do, but it is really making it an unattractive business.
The sentiment is shared by Kevin O’Boyle, who runs Central Radio Cars in Harrogate.
In a letter to North Yorkshire Council’s licensing committee, which is due to consider the changes on its wheelchair-accessible vehicles policy on September 3, he points out the number of accessible vehicles in the district has fallen to six.
Kevin O'Boyle, owner of Central Radio Cars.
Mr Boyle said this was partly down to drivers being unwilling to operate wheelchair-accessible vehicles due to the income involved, which he argues needs to be increased to make the trade more attractive.
He said:
I would like you to ask yourself, would you drive a wheelchair-accessible vehicle? North Yorkshire Council has given some financial support in relaxing licence fees for wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which was £300-plus per year.
Although thankful of this, it does not go far enough to bridge the gap. The government/North Yorkshire Council’s approach seems to be ‘you will do this work, or we shall hit you with a big stick until you do’. I do not believe that this is the answer, nor will it improve the situation.
'A welcome start'
However, the proposal is welcomed by disability campaigners.
Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire.
Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, told the Stray Ferret the organisation has been campaigning for better accessible taxis for many years.
She said disabled residents in Harrogate often have to book taxis from Leeds to get to appointments due to the sheer lack of accessible vehicles in the area.
Ms Snape said:
It is notoriously difficult to get a wheelchair-accessible taxi in the Harrogate area, with this being probably the subject we get most calls about from disabled people who are immensely frustrated with the situation. As an example we had a call from a resident who needed to visit their doctors surgery, which was about two miles from their home.
They were unable to access a wheelchair-accessible vehicles and ended up booking one from Leeds – that visit to the doctor cost them just under £90.
She added that while the move will not entirely solve the problem, it was a step in the right direction.
This proposal will not solve problems like this as it currently only applies to hackney carriages, not private hire – but it is a welcome start. North Yorkshire Council's licensing team have listened to the views of disabled people and taken appropriate action, this is a greatly appreciated step forwards.
A report on the planned changes will go to a council licensing and registration committee on September 3.
Any recommendations from the committee will be presented to North Yorkshire Council’s executive on September 17.
If the executive approves a consultation on the proposals, anyone wishing to comment will be able to do so via the council’s website for 12 weeks.
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