LEEDS

Just 30 taxi drivers have received loans from a scheme set up to help them buy greener vehicles in the eight months since it launched.

Over 2,000 Leeds cabbies have applied for help to buy cars exempt from upcoming clean air zone (CAZ) charges.

But most have waited months for a decision and believe the council cannot cope with the volume of applicants.

Leeds City Council said it had to be responsible with public money and "due diligence takes time".

The CAZ was originally due to come into effect by January 2020 but has been delayed until July at the earliest.

Certain vehicles entering the city centre would have to pay a charge under the scheme.
'On track'

The government gave the council £29m to implement the zone, with £23m earmarked to help businesses adapt and get greener vehicles.

From 1 April, taxi and private hire drivers in the city were invited to apply for interest-free loans of up to £10,000 or non-repayable grants worth up to £1,500.

By June, two months after launching the scheme, the authority's documents showed it had received more than 2,000 applications.

Documents seen by the BBC suggested the government had instructed the council to reach a decision on these by September.

But by that time, according to a council report, just £20,000 had been paid out in loans, while grants worth £55,000 had been awarded.

At the end of November, according to documents seen by the BBC, just 19 loans had been paid out.

The most recent figures show 30 loans have been paid, and a further 69 provisionally approved, the council said.

Despite this, the authority said it was "on track to process every pending application within the next two months".

A spokesman said the council expected to have paid "in the region" of 350 loans once all remaining applications had been processed.

The scheme would remain open "until the end of 2020 or until funding runs out", he said.
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LIVERPOOL

Taxi and private hire drivers could soon be randomly drug tested amid concern about some drivers using cocaine and cannabis.

Members of Liverpool Council's licensing committee will meet on Tuesday, December 10 to give final approval to the plans, which would also see "intelligence-led" testing used on drivers suspected of being under the influence of drugs while driving.

Across the whole of Merseyside, police arrested 114 licensed drivers on suspicion of drug driving in the 12 months from May 1, 2018 to May 1, 2019.

Councillors expressed strong backing for the plans when moving them into a consultation phase earlier this year.

A consultation with drivers and found that most who responded "overwhelmingly support" the introduction of drug tests in the city.

The draft testing policy says that "a very small minority of these drivers use illegal drugs such as cocaine and cannabis on a recreational basis or as habitual users".

The policy states: "The City Council views such drug use as being completely incompatible with being a fit and proper person to be entrusted with the safe carriage of the general public, in addition to the obvious dangers presented to other road users by such licensed drivers.

"This policy, therefore, aims to establish procedures to allow for random and intelligence-led drugs testing of licensed drivers, with the intention of both detecting drivers who use illegal drugs and deterring such persons from continuing to use drugs."

Liverpool's move would see randomised testing of current taxi drivers - and the potential for new applicants, or taxi drivers renewing their licence, to be requested to take a test if they have a conviction or caution for drug-related offences in the past three years.

There would also be so-called 'intelligence-led' testing to allow the council to request a driver take a test if there are 'credible reasons' to suspect a driver may use illegal drugs.

The tests would be administered by specialist company Alpha BioLabs.

A representative for the company told the council in August that their processes were designed to prevent any attempts to tamper with tests or allow people to provide false samples.


Councillors say other local authorities in the region will need to follow suit to tackle the issue effectively.

At an August licence meeting, councillor Roy Gladden said: "The reason we are looking at a policy for this is because of the drug problems we have with some drivers.

"Under our system there are drivers from other authorities driving in our area.

"I need something from this committee to go to the city region so that we can keep raising this with other boroughs."

Liverpool Echo