YESTERDAY IN PARLIAMENT

Wes Streeting Labour, Ilford North

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on regulatory reform of the taxi and private hire industry.

    (Citation: HC Deb, 15 October 2018, cW)


 Ghani Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

Ministers are considering the recommendations made by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, a Government response will be issued in due course.

Legislation to reform the regulation of taxis and private hire vehicles will be brought forward if required.

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Frank Field Chair, Work and Pensions Committee

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation granting licensing authorities a statutory basis for creating minimum wage thresholds for drivers within the licensing criteria for private hire operators.

        (Citation: HC Deb, 16 October 2018, cW)

 Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

At a Westminster Hall Debate last year, the Rt Hon John Hayes MP announced the formation of a Task and Finish group to consider any taxi and private hire regulatory issues, their causes and potential remedies. The Group’s report was published on 24 September and it includes a chapter on industry working conditions. The Government response to the report will be published in due course.
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Taxi fares in Scarborough are set to rise for the first time in five years.

Scarborough Borough Council’s cabinet today agreed to a request from the Scarborough and District Taxi Association to increase prices.

The changes will now go out to a public consultation.

Under the request from the association, the average fare will increase at all times alongside a raft of other changes.

In a report which went before the cabinet members, it noted that the cost of a journey between 6am and 9pm go up by an average of 10.7%. A one-mile mile journey would, therefore, cost £5.20 up from £4.80.

The proposal for 9pm to midnight could see an average rise of 22% on current fares. A one-mile journey would cost £5.60. From midnight to 6am the average rise requested is 13.7% and would see a one-mile fare increase to £6.

Cllr Bill Chatt said the change would apply to the so-called “white plate” taxi drivers, who are sole traders and don’t work out of a taxi office, instead they pick up fares from ranks.

He added:

    “They haven’t put their prices up for a long time.

    Without these [drivers] our area would be poorer because they are the ones who pick people up from the station and they are the first point of call people will see when they get out [of the train station].

    They are a very essential part of what we are trying to do in the borough.”

The cabinet report, written by the council’s environment and regulation manager Mark Heaton,  noted that a number of other changes would be implemented.

He wrote:

    “Other amendments include an additional charge of £1 per passenger where more than four passengers are carried; to double the existing charge applied in respect of luggage, bicycles, pushchairs, dogs etc. to 20p per item; extending the definition of ‘Bank Holidays’ to include the bank holiday weekend i.e. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and annual Good Friday and to double the existing soiling charge from £40 to £80.”

Mr Heaton told the meeting that the association asked for a rise in fares in 2015 but it was rejected by the council’s licensing committee.

https://www.yorkshirecoastradio.com/news/local-news/2713384/scarborough-taxi-fares-set-to-rise/
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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — After all of the hardship that has befallen San Francisco’s taxicab industry, drivers gathered Tuesday outside City Hall to predict more disaster.

Inside, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was presenting a set of taxi market reforms designed to help the drivers who have invested as much as a quarter million dollars in the city’s medallion program, only to see that entire economy undermined by tens of thousands of rideshare drivers.

So, the reforms are aimed at the drivers who made that investment – such as giving them exclusive access to pickups at San Francisco International Airport.

“We’re trying to bring value to our purchased medallion holders, because they are the ones who have invested the most,” said Kate Toran, SFMTA Director, Taxi and Accessible Services.

Another proposal would eliminate an entire class of medallions. “And so their plan is to directly confiscate what are called the pre-K medallions, under the guise that they’ve made enough money in their lifetime, which I think is sadistic,” said taxi driver Carl Macmurdo.

The city also wants to loosen up the frozen market by allowing for new possible buyers and eliminating the transfer fees. We ran those ideas past the city’s medallion lending partner, who is currently suing the city for $28 million.

“Too little, too late,” said SF Federal Credit Union CEO Jonathan Oliver. “The elephant in the room is still the medallion price. No one will buy a medallion at $250,000, even with these changes.”

So a bit of a fait accompli Tuesday, we knew drivers would not like the proposals. They showed up in numbers that overwhelmed the hearing room and they’re a little upset about these proposals.

What we do not know, is how SFMTA will receive the proposals. They could accept some, all, or none of it.

Meanwhile, five San Francisco supervisors have sent a letter to the SFMTA asking them to slow down on the proposals.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/10/16/cab-drivers-wary-of-proposed-san-francisco-taxi-industry-reforms/

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NOTTINGHAM

Four teenagers accused of the murder of Lyrico Steede travelled by taxi to the area where he was knifed - but did not have the fare upfront.

His alleged killers were making their way over to where 17-year-old Lyrico had been together with a 16-year-old girl, also now on trial for his murder.

The girl - said to have lured Lyrico there - had taken him to a bench in a Bulwell playground where they sat together, Nottingham Crown Court has heard.

Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC earlier told the jury she had told one or more of the four young men in the dock where she would be with him. It has been claimed they knew exactly where to go to hunt him down to attack him.

"They knew exactly where their prey would be and where she had taken him," said Mr Joyce.

A taxi had been booked with Central Cars that night of Tuesday, February 13. Shortly after 6.47pm, the driver, Mauzzum Nazer, picked up four men in Shrewsbury Road, off Sneinton Boulevard.

Mr Nazer asked for the money for the fare upfront but was told "we will pay you when we get to Bulwell".

"I said 'no, I can't take you without upfront payment'," he told the court. "I said 'you can give me a deposit like a mobile phone'.

"I just asked for anything of equivalent value, because the fare is normally £11 or £12. One of the men sitting at the back gave me a mobile phone, which was a very cheap one. I refused to take that. Another gentleman at the front gave me his iPhone, which was quite expensive".

Mr Nazer took the phone as security for payment at the other end before he set off.

He also said that one of them said "when we get to Bulwell my mum would pay" and he made a phone call to a lady.

Three of the men in the back were talking amongst themselves, he said, and he could not hear them properly as he had light music on.

The passenger in the front was chatting to him. Mr Nazer described this to the jury as "taxi driver chat" about "was this my car?" and "how much money do I make?"

He said a man in the back made a call to somebody to borrow some money for the taxi fare but the other person said "do a runner".

"I was confident inside that at least I had something as a deposit," added Mr Nazer.

Jurors have heard the taxi dropped the men off at an address in Bulwell.

"When I dropped them off, they didn't have any money on them," said Mr Nazer. "I saw a white guy coming towards them".

Then one of his passengers paid Mr Nazer and he gave him the change and phone back.

The court has heard that the four men allegedly walked towards Hempshill Lane and to the park to kill Lyrico.

He was chased over several hundred yards from the dark park - set in a recreation ground off Hempshill Lane.

He was only caught when he stumbled, tripped or fell over a low railing on a road in Stock Well, the trial has heard.

He died five days after he was stabbed with a knife or knives.

Two 17-year-olds males and the 16-year-old girl are accused of the murder with Kasharn Campbell, 19, of no fixed address, and Remmell Campbell-Miller, 18, of Sneinton Boulevard.

The trial continues.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/alleged-murderers-lyrico-steede-travelled-2116373
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