NEW YORK 

A credit union has been driven into insolvency by the rise of Uber and other ride-sharing apps, as many of its loans, secured by New York City taxi medallions, have fallen into delinquency.

The Melrose Credit Union of Queens, New York, was liquidated on Friday by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Federal supervisory agency.

Melrose, which had operated for nearly a century, is the largest retail credit union to enter liquidation. It had been in NCUA conservatorship since February 2017. Its financial reports for the first half of 2018 show allowances for loan losses of $260m and a six-month net loss of $172m. Assets of $1.1bn were outweighed by liabilities of just under $1.5bn.

The majority of its loans appear to have been backed by taxi medallions, licences issued by the authorities to allow metered Yellow Cabs — the only cabs that can be hailed on the street — to operate.

Several other New York credit unions are feeling the pain of falling medallion values. One of them, Lomto, is also in NCUA conservatorship.

Five years ago New York taxi medallions sold for over $1m. Recently, as taxis face tough competition from ride-sharing services, medallions have changed hands for under $200,000.

This month, New York City issued a one-year moratorium on new for-hire vehicle licenses, and will use the moratorium period to study the impact on ride-hailing apps congestion, wages and other issues. It is the first US city to impose such a limit on services such as Uber and Lyft.

https://goo.gl/cX4DL9 
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LICHFIELD

A taxi driver has been told he cannot operate in Lichfield after a court upheld a decision not to renew his licence.

Lichfield District Council won the case against Mohammed Chowdhury at Stoke Crown Court after the local authority had opted not to renew his taxi driver’s licence following complaints about him and carrying out a series of mystery shopper tests.

The council said the Birmingham-based driver had overcharged, failed to give receipts and been abusive to a passenger.

Chowdhury had appealed a previous court ruling, but an appeal at Stoke Crown Court found in the council’s favour.

Cllr Ashley Yeates, Cabinet member for regulatory services, housing and wellbeing, said: “It’s so important that we have the authority to monitor any taxi drivers that operate within the district, to make sure they are offering a good service and are safe.

“This is why we’re really pleased with the Crown Court’s ruling to uphold our decision to reject Mr Chowdhury’s licence renewal application.

“We do not want any taxi drivers with poor customer service to work locally.”

The court ordered Chowdhury to pay the council’s costs of £6,000 which, when added to the £5,000 costs from the original Magistrates’ Court case, makes a total of £11,000 in costs.

https://goo.gl/Y5DWPV