INVERNESS

Cabbies in the Highland capital fear they are being driven out of business amid a row over fares rises and a “free-for-all” they claim is costing them trade.

They say a tariffs increase offered by the local authority is “insulting” and have called for urgent action to protect their livelihoods.

Highland Council’s licensing committee is due to debate proposals for a new fares structure next month.

But members of the Inverness Taxi Alliance fear the worst after their plea to be allowed to make their case to elected members before the August 11 meeting was rejected.

They want tariffs increased – or a cap imposed on the ever-increasing number of operators from outwith the Highland capital being allowed to work in the city.

The local authority no longer has separate district taxi zones, meaning it is a free-for-all across the north, with some drivers coming from as far away as Caithness to ply for trade in Inverness on lucrative weekends.

Earlier this year the licensing committee agreed to offer the drivers a 20p increase, giving a minimum tariff of £2.70, but drivers had requested a starting rate of £3.

The £2.70 fare on offer is also 10p lower than what was tabled last year, when an effort to fix new rates ended in debacle

A rise of 30p was approved in April 2014, but was appealed by driver Andrew MacDonald, chairman of Inverness Taxi Alliance, who was supported by 160 other taxi operators who wanted an increase of 50p.

Scotland’s traffic commissioner Richard McFarlane discovered the local authority had not carried out a full consultation with all drivers in the Highlands and the entire process had to start again.

Mr MacDonald said yesterday the council offer was “insulting and patronising” and he was concerned that the drivers’ request for a meeting before August 11 had been turned down.

He also wanted to raise with councillors the “wildly oversubscribed” private hire car sector, in which drivers are not required to go through the thorough “knowledge” tests which full taxi drivers operate.

Mr MacDonald said: “It’s a ridiculous situation we are in where the largest authority in the country does not do zoning.

“There are the other issues with the private hire cars who don’t do the same training and who often rely on sat nav or their own passengers to get them where they are going.

“It’s damaging to the whole trade and nobody is winning out of this.”

Council officials had initially suggested a higher basic tariff, but this was overruled by councillors on the committee.

Now the taxi alliance plans to write to all members of Highland Council about tariff structures in the run-up to next month’s meeting.

Councillor Maxine Smith, who was chairwoman of the licensing committee when the revised tariffs were put out to consultation this year, said last night she “broadly agreed” with the taxi alliance’s position, but she said she could understand why demands for a meeting prior to August 11 had been turned down.

Ms Smith, who still sits on the committee, said: “There was a sub-committee meeting a few months ago so there is no need for one to be brought forward now.

“In the interest of fairness if we offered the Inverness drivers that opportunity we’d have to go to everybody interested in the consultation and that would be extremely time consuming.”

She agreed that the number of private hire car operators would have to be brought under control.

She said: “We’ve explained to them before that we can’t introduce zoning and we can’t cap numbers without taking considerable time and expense.

“I do think we need to look at private hire cars and that could be a way of controlling numbers. I plan to raise that at the meeting.”

New licensing chairman, Councillor Ian Cockburn, said that he had not directly received any requests from the Inverness alliance for a meeting.

However, he added: “I would be happy to discuss any concerns with them.”

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/651555/taxi-trade-hit-out-at-council/
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RUSSIA

 One of two electric cars recently purchased by Russian Internet company Yandex and available for hire to users of their Yandex.Taxi service was severely damaged in a car accident, news site RBC reported, linking to an image of the car after the accident uploaded on Instagram by user alexgregor on Wednesday. 

As previously reported by RBC, two models of electric cars produced by carmaker Tesla Motors — a Tesla S and a Tesla S Performance — were made available to clients of taxi booking service Yandex.Taxi on July 9. The cars can be ordered through the Yandex.Taxi mobile app by accessing a section called “Secret” and submitting the code “yandextesla,” Yandex explains on the service’s official site. According to RBC, the cost of a ride is the same as for a regular car, starting at 199 rubles ($3.30) for the first 10 minutes.

Yandex.Taxi is one of Yandex’s most popular projects in Russia, according to RBC. In recent years the country has witnessed an increase in online taxi booking services, with companies such as Uber and Gett also competing for a share of the market. 

According to data provided by the Main Directorate for Road Traffic Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, more than 79,000 car accidents, causing a total of 9,712 deaths and injuring 99,740, have been registered in Russia since the beginning of the year.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/moscow-drivers-defeat-tesla-taxi/526487.html
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 INVERCLYDE'S annual taxi fares review looks set to freeze prices at current levels.

Councillors are due to meet next month to consider what should happen but, unusually, officials and the taxi trade are both in favour of no increase.

A report to Inverclyde's general purposes board states: "The taxi trade wish to maintain the current fare structure as approved in November 2014."

The council's environmental and commercial services department support the trade’s proposal of fares being maintained at the existing level.

The response from the taxi trade states that operators "remain extremely conscious...of the current challenging times being experienced by all sectors of the community, including the taxi trade"; they confirmed the "overwhelming consensus" is to have no fares rise.

http://www.inverclydenow.com/photostream/15020-brakes-could-be-put-on-taxi-fares-this-year-
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 MIDDLESBROUGH

 Jail ride for taxi hire directors over accounting failures

Arfan Khan and Gerard Burns, both from Middlesbrough were directors of Thornaby Cars Ltd trading as Royal Cars. The company was wound-up on 28 July 2010 following a petition by HMRC.

The investigation found Khan and Burns unlawfully transferred £150,0000 from the company before it was wound up to another company which they controlled, when they knew that such an amount was owed to HMRC for unpaid VAT. In doing so, they prevented HMRC from being paid the debt that it was owed.

Both Khan and Mr Burns failed to keep adequate accounting records to show the financial position of Thornaby Cars Ltd.

Khan further continued to use the business name Royal Cars previously used by Thornaby Cars, when its use had been prohibited for a period of five years from 28 July 2010.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court Khan was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment and disqualified from being a company director for a period of 10 years.

Burns was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment (to be suspended for two years) and disqualified from acting as a company director for a period of five years.

Simon Button, deputy chief investigative officer, from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said: ‘The Insolvency Service and BIS will take firm action when we find that company directors have abused the trust that the public expect from them when they hold such a responsible position.

‘Both Mr Khan and Mr Burns were clearly aware that the money belonged to the company and its creditors, and was not theirs to do with as they wished.’
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DUNDEE

A taxi driver was taken to hospital after she was run over by her own car outside a supermarket.

The woman was hurt in the bizarre incident, which happened outside the Tesco store on Dundee’s South Road.

It is understood the driver got out of her taxi before it began rolling — without her noticing.

The vehicle knocked her down and she suffered injuries to her chest.

Witnesses told of how shoppers and staff members ran to the woman’s aid.

They crowded around her and calmed her down before emergency services arrived.

One bystander said the driver appeared to be in a lot of pain and was very grateful for the comfort and reassurance from the public.

The injured woman was also described as looking “frightened to death” during the incident, in which she was cared for by medics. Officers from Police Scotland and an ambulance crew attended.

The woman was treated at the scene before she was taken by ambulance to Ninewells Hospital.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland’s Tayside Division confirmed they had been called to the incident.

The spokeswoman said: “We attended an incident involving a woman and a car at Tesco in South Road at around 9.40am on Friday.

“She received injuries to her chest and was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to A&E at Ninewells Hospital.”

A spokesman for Tesco said that staff at the store had sent flowers to the woman.

He added: “We are grateful to the emergency services and everyone who helped following a traffic accident on Friday morning.”

The taxi driver is understood to have avoided serious injury.

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said one vehicle attended the incident and took the injured woman to Ninewells.

She added: “I can confirm we attended at South Road in Dundee at 9.40am on Friday. A female was transported to hospital.”

The Tele understands that the woman works for city taxi firm 505050.

The Tele approached 505050 for comment, however no one at the company was available to comment.

http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2015/07/30/taxi-driver-run-over-by-her-own-car-outside-dundee-supermarket/
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