Councillors have deferred lifting a limit on hackney carriage taxi numbers in North East Lincolnshire until a survey of demand has been conducted.
Currently, a maximum of 220 hackney carriages are permitted to operate in North East Lincolnshire. Council officers had made three recommendations for local hackney carriage rules: removing the limit, requiring all new cabs to be electric or hybrid, and ensuring they are wheelchair accessible.
However, after impassioned representations from the North East Lincolnshire Hackney Carriage Association, councillors decided not to remove the limit until an unmet demand survey is conducted.
North East Lincolnshire Council introduced a limit on hackney carriage numbers in 2010, but, in line with best practice, reviews it every few years. “There’s a minimal amount of authorities that do have restrictions,” said Adrian Moody, the council’s licensing and environment protection manager, addressing its licensing and community protection committee.
Future requirements for extra carriages to be hybrid or electric could act “as a little bit of a bar on entry to the trade because those types of vehicles are more significantly expensive” than petrol or diesel. “We do acknowledge it’s a complicated and sensitive issue with pros and cons, and whilst passengers are the priority, we also recognise we need to support the trade as best we can.”
The local cabbies’ association objected to the limit removal, warning: “The job of being a hackney carriage driver in North East Lincolnshire is not the bonanza that many think.”
“I’m the eldest wheelchair driver in the town,” said the association’s chair, Wayne Crouch, describing the difficult economic conditions. “We are in a low-paid area; people are not using taxis like they were.
“Why don’t we carry on with the unmet demand [survey]? That gives us a true indication of whether we need any more taxis.”
The last survey, conducted in 2020, showed no unmet demand. When this is the case, councillors are allowed to cap cab numbers.
“I’ve been in the job 35 years, and this is the worst I’ve ever known the taxi trade,” added Mr Crouch. “I was sat on Freeman Street today for four hours, I took three jobs, I got £13.”
Removing the limit was “ludicrous” given the lack of rank spaces for all existing cabs. Mr Moody later clarified, “There’s only a few authorities that have the rank spaces to cover the number of hackney carriages they’ve got.”
The last survey cost around £12,000. “Whilst it’s not a reason for not doing it, it’s a factor for consideration, I would suggest,” said Mr Moody.
“If we do these [changes] without the survey, we don’t know if there’s unmet demand or not,” said Cllr Sheldon Mill. He added that he “would feel a lot more comfortable” removing the limit with a new survey, proposing it with a specific focus on wheelchair demand.
“You must have read my notes,” joked Cllr Nick Pettigrew, who agreed. “Having data in front of us actually helps,” added Cllr Robson Augusta.
Officers also recommended amending a wheelchair-accessible exemption introduced in 2013 against advice. Currently, drivers can get medical exemptions from their GP for carrying passengers in wheelchairs.
The 2013 amendment allowed such drivers to change their carriage from being wheelchair accessible to a saloon vehicle. “We feel the link to the vehicles does cause a problem for us,” stated Mr Moody. Drivers with medical exemptions had risen from 13 to 75 since 2013, with most granted lifetime exemptions.
Wheelchair-accessible cabs in North East Lincolnshire have decreased from 70 in 2020 to 43. Some vehicles are shared between drivers.
Councillors unanimously approved a motion to amend this exemption immediately. The survey’s costs will be paid by the council but mostly recouped through fees charged to drivers.
The four drivers who attended the meeting expressed satisfaction that their calls for a survey had been heard.
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