Taxi drivers in Nottingham fear for their jobs and livelihoods after a new scheme was launched which could see their licences revoked if they rack up enough penalty points.
Under its new Driver Improvement Penalty Point Scheme, Nottingham City Council will hand out points for a range of offences, including parking a vehicle in contravention of parking restrictions.
This weekend, during the first days of the scheme, the city council said three penalty point notices were issued for this offence – meaning three drivers were handed four points each.
Cabbies claim there is a major shortage of parking bays in the city and say it would be very easy for them to rack up points while waiting for one to become available.
Each offence would be worth between four and six points and any Hackney cab driver who reaches 12 in a three-year rolling period could see their licence revoked.
Other offences include driving a vehicle that is in an unroadworthy condition, failure to convey passengers in a safe and responsible manner and failure to use a taxi meter for journeys within a prescribed distance.
Around 100 community protection officers will help to enforce the scheme, as well as police officers.
It comes at a time when taxi drivers say that trade has fallen by nearly 40 per cent in the city following the pedestrianisation of Station Street, which has seen the taxi rank relocated to Trent Street.
Umar Mahood, 33, chairman of the Hackney Taxi Association, told the Post: "The first weekend has been shambolic. The council is only targeting Hackney carriages and we have limited spaces already. Drivers are having to go round and round rather than pull up.
"As soon as Saturday came they were standing in Market Square and just targeting Hackney drivers. There are 90 spaces across the city, only 33 at the train station, and 411 Hackney cabs. Parking is the biggest problem. When the bays are full, drivers will be waiting for a space in the rank.
"The council wants to leave us with empty pockets. They are promoting trams and buses, they want them to be successful, but they need to think of this trade and the drivers' families."
Other taxi drivers working at the Wheeler Gate taxi rank have also expressed concerns.
Ghulani Jelani, 53, from Aspley, has been driving a Hackney cab for 12 years.
He said: "This will have a negative effect and put people out of work. It is hard to find a spot – 411 Hackney taxis and less than 100 spaces, you do the math. The council says move around but if we move around we are causing pollution and we are losing fuel. The city council is against us."
http://bit.ly/2o41qNJ
-----------------------------------------
THIRSK
A TAXI driver has lost his licence to operate after an investigation into complaints he was aggressive, verbally provocative and abusive towards other drivers.
Hambleton District Council’s licensing appeals panel decided the only action they could take was to revoke the man’s hackney carriage and private hire licence after the incident at the taxi rank in Thirsk Market Place in December last year.
It followed previous complaints in March 2016 when the man’s licence to operate was suspended for three weeks and he was given a formal warning. The taxi driver was not identified, nor were five witnesses who gave evidence to the hearing which was held behind closed doors and the press and public excluded.
A report on the hearing identified the driver as D and the panel said it was satisfied he had acted in an aggressive manner towards two taxi drivers, that he was verbally provocative and abusive with one taxi driver and that he made unwanted physical contact with one taxi driver.
It also found he had provided an inaccurate account of the incident to the licensing team in order to give the impression that his conduct appeared less aggressive and that he had acted in self defence.
“The panel considered the character references provided by D and the oral backing provided by W during the hearing,” said the report.
“The panel accepted that D will have customers and friends that have had positive experiences with him.
“However, having considered the outcome of the hearing before the panel in March 2016, the panel was satisfied that D had demonstrated a propensity to lose his temper.”
The report added: “The panel noted that taxi drivers must behave in a civil and orderly manner at all times in order to protect the public and themselves.”
The hearing also heard allegations that the driver had threatened another driver’s relatives in Turkish, however that was not substantiated after other witnesses failed to understand the words.
The driver told the panel he himself had been assaulted after the other driver’s phone was damaged - that alleged assault is understood to be the subject of a separate investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment