The licensing committee met to consider increasing the present annual fee from £72 to £315.
At the same time the council wanted to introduce a new five-year licence at a cost of £1,015.
The increases were said to be necessary to cover the £142.54 cost to process an annual licence.
On top of that, an average of at least five hours at a cost of £35 an hour was spent on enforcement per operator.
In a report councillors were told: "The proposed fee has been set to ensure that the service can be delivered effectively and to ensure that it is not a burden on the council tax payers."
But objections were raised by the 120-strong Scunthorpe and District Taxi Association.
Spokesman Stuart Commander slammed the proposed price changes as "staggering" and expressed fears if they were implemented that taxi drivers could lose their jobs.
The association carried out its own survey which compared licence fees in neighbouring local authorities.
The annual fees ranged from £56 in Hull to £186 in West Lindsey.
Mr Commander told the committee: "The job is hard enough without these kind of costs being forced upon us."
He claimed taxi costs for tests, insurance, maintenance and badges were already "very high" and "ridiculous".
The licensing committee agreed to lower the proposed charges to £210 for a year and £1,015 for five years.
The proposals will now go out to consultation with the trade and the public before a final decision is taken.
After the meeting, committee chairman Councillor Keith Vickers said: "This demonstrates that we are a listening council. We received an objection from the Scunthorpe and District Taxi Association to our original proposals and we have listened to their concerns.
"Having taken everything into consideration, we now propose a much smaller increase.
"We trust this proposal will be acceptable to the private hire operators.
"We now need to consult further on the new proposals before making a final decision."
http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/Licence-fee-increase-private-taxis-scrapped/story-28663909-detail/story.html
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SAN FRANCISCO
Three people have died after their car crashed and burst into flames during a police chase.
Cops were following a white sedan in San Francisco on Saturday night before it slammed into a taxi and exploded, hours before the Super Bowl festivities were set to begin.
The vehicle started running through red lights and sped up as the officers tailed them.
Police decided to call off the chase, but just seconds later, the car slammed into a taxi and burst into flames.
Neal Taylor told KPIX: 'The whole car burst into such intense flames — bang — nobody could survive.
'There was no movement or sounds of any people… so we couldn’t help them. There was nothing we could do.
Two men died in the car and one body was found the street. It's not known if the man on the street was in the car when it crashed.
Witnesses say another car stopped and the women inside screamed for someone to help those in the burning car.
But moments later there was an explosion and the women got scared and drove away.
The wreckage of the burned out car was seen in the middle of the street in the aftermath.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3435963/Three-dead-car-slams-taxi-bursts-flame-police-chase-San-Francisco.html
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PRAGUE
Hundreds of taxi drivers have blocked a major road in Prague city centre to demand higher pay and condemn alternative services such as Uber.
The protest began with drivers blocking two of the three lanes in both directions on a key route near Central Station, causing significant delays.
The protest came after talks between a company representing the drivers and city authorities in the Czech capital collapsed at the end of December.
The drivers claim Uber and other ride-hailing apps are illegal because they do not meet all the requirements traditional taxi companies have to.
They also want to be allowed to charge passengers more than the current maximum of 28 koruna (80p) per kilometre.
Prague mayor Adriana Krnacova said the drivers have no real reason to protest.
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BIRMINGHAM
Police are appealing for witnesses after a man suffered a serious injury in a hit-and-run crash in Birmingham today.
Officers were called to the collision between a black cab and a blue Peugeot 307 estate on Washwood Heath Road, Ward End , at just after 2am.
The driver of the Peugeot, believed to be a man, fled the scene on foot and headed in the direction of Ward End Park.
The taxi driver was taken to hospital suffering a serious arm injury.
Sergeant Adam Green, from West Midlands Police collision investigation unit, said: "These are early stages in our investigation and I would ask for any witnesses to contact us.
"I would also appeal directly to the driver of the vehicle to do the right thing and to come forward and speak to us."
Anyone with information can call the Collision Investigation Unit on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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