Great, 15 more nutters on the road.

This should an interesting debate.

It's no surprise that they haven't opened the "Usual business at The Press" story to comments!

Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

The NUJ believes journalists at the Press should be paid fairly to represent their enormous contribution to the newspaper and this website. Our members want to serve their readers and their community to the best of their ability. But they are having to take strike action in protest at a below inflation pay offer of 3 per cent. Newsquest, which operates the Press and this website, is American owned and its parent group made more than 1 billion dollars last year. The NUJ believes it can afford to pay its journalists a living wage. Management should come back to the negotiating table with a proper offer.
Chris Morley
NUJ Northern Organiser

their enormous contribution to the newspaper

They're journalists - that's what journalists do!

a below inflation pay offer of 3 per cent

They should think themselves lucky they were offered a payrise - my colleagues and I have not had a payrise for 2 years (I work for a national company).

Let's see what the BBC say;

http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/england/north
_yorkshire/7414170.s
tm

There isn't enough work for us now and I'm very worried about the future. Some of us will go under."


Yeah Right !!!

Smudge you are obviously not a taxi driver.Tell me how often do you go into the centre of York to dne and wine in todays present climate and would say not very often.Times are hard and they are becoming harder 15 more taxis almost a 10% increase means 10% reduction then fuel going up on a daily basis Smudge some will go under.

Peachy4 wrote:
Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

the prices for hackney carriage fares is set by the council, with sealed meters and they can only charge what the meter says,

Liz Eccles, project manager of the Halcrow report, admitted a mistake had been made, but said this did not impact on the overall findings.

She said: "We have over- factored the passenger numbers for Clifford Street because of the hours and that will be reported in our final report.

"However, there is obviously a significant unmet demand in York."

Coun Ian Gillies said he recognised the concerns of the cab drivers, but had no option but to approve the recommendations of Halcrow.

A report done on guess work is it not.2.78 minutes waiting for a taxi not long is it ?? i my self on Tuesday evening between the hours 8pm and 9.30pm did 2 jobs a wait of 90mins for a total of £6.40 15 more taxis cat wait bring them on tut tut tut tut tut .p.s Mr Gillies how much did your plate go for

geobar wrote:

Peachy4 wrote: Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

the prices for hackney carriage fares is set by the council, with sealed meters and they can only charge what the meter says,

yes but they can charge less than what the meter says.

dodger wrote:
Smudge you are obviously not a taxi driver.Tell me how often do you go into the centre of York to dne and wine in todays present climate and would say not very often.Times are hard and they are becoming harder 15 more taxis almost a 10% increase means 10% reduction then fuel going up on a daily basis Smudge some will go under.

Never met a poor taxi driver yet.

They are like farmers.

They always tell the bad news but never the good news.

You would have to be very naive to believe that a man/woman who is a taxi driver stops in his job and loses money !!

If theres not enough work for cabbies at the moment how come I have to wait on average 15 mins for a cab from the rank near me....

Coun Ian Gillies said he recognised the concerns of the cab drivers, but had no option but to approve the recommendations of Halcrow.

A report done on guess work is it not.2.78 minutes waiting for a taxi not long is it ?? i my self on Tuesday evening between the hours 8pm and 9.30pm did 2 jobs a wait of 90mins for a total of £6.40 15 more taxis cat wait bring them on tut tut tut tut tut .p.s Mr Gillies how much did your plate go for

Around the £660000 mark I beleive, the highest one has ever sold for, I bet hes glad he sold it, wouldnt be worth that now would it, He must have been able to see into the future!!!!

Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

Once again, we have this old chestnut, you take the car from the front of the rank, and pay the meter rate, sometimes, out of town jobs can be negotiated, but with the fuel prices, higher rents/vehicle costs etc, we sometimes cannot justify doing this, depending upon the job, there is less work nowadays, hackneys fares are around the same as private hire, give or take a bit, (some private hire firms have a £5 minimum fare at night, we dont) so all in all you cannot crwate more business by cutting fares, all you will do is go home with less money!!!

Peachy4 wrote: Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

In case you hadn't noticed the cost of living has rocketed recently, well, guess what, the cost of taxi drivers livings has as well!!!

And finally, the people who will be given these plates will have to put a side loading wheelchair acces vehicle under 4 years old on, about £15000 minimum, and there are no station permits left, so good luck out there on the street working 18 hours a day, I reckon that within 6 months many of the new plates will have changed hands!!!!!

Well done once again halcrow!!!

thats £66000 in the above posting

Someone asked the question at taxi driver on line, Why are taxis from Berwick upon tweed working in York, well the simple answer is because they can by law, and the owners do not want to pay the extortionate plate rentals charged by the plate barons and the over the top council licence fee's when they can get there licence at under half the price.
I would advise any person who is renting a plate to go to Berwick and get a licence of your own, or even apply on line.
There are Berwick taxis in nearly every part of the UK now because of overcharging councils and plate barons

Someone asked the question at taxi driver on line, Why are taxis from Berwick upon tweed working in York, well the simple answer is because they can by law, and the owners do not want to pay the extortionate plate rentals charged by the plate barons and the over the top council licence fee's when they can get there licence at under half the price.
I would advise any person who is renting a plate to go to Berwick and get a licence of your own, or even apply on line.
There are Berwick taxis in nearly every part of the UK now because of overcharging councils and plate barons

Speaking to The Press after the meeting, the secretary of York Taxi Association Alan Rowley said the impact on existing cab drivers would be "devastating".

quote

I bet it will for the plate barons,
If you have more than 1 plate hand them back to the council and let someone else earn a honest living without having to pay the likes of you.
It could easily be arranged another way,
If all drivers who rent a plate went to the council and asked for the plate to be put in there own name, the council would have to comply by law, as the plates belong to the the council

I.T.M.A.!!!

yzfpete wrote:

Coun Ian Gillies said he recognised the concerns of the cab drivers, but had no option but to approve the recommendations of Halcrow. A report done on guess work is it not.2.78 minutes waiting for a taxi not long is it ?? i my self on Tuesday evening between the hours 8pm and 9.30pm did 2 jobs a wait of 90mins for a total of £6.40 15 more taxis cat wait bring them on tut tut tut tut tut .p.s Mr Gillies how much did your plate go for

Around the £660000 mark I beleive, the highest one has ever sold for, I bet hes glad he sold it, wouldnt be worth that now would it, He must have been able to see into the future!!!!

Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

Once again, we have this old chestnut, you take the car from the front of the rank, and pay the meter rate, sometimes, out of town jobs can be negotiated, but with the fuel prices, higher rents/vehicle costs etc, we sometimes cannot justify doing this, depending upon the job, there is less work nowadays, hackneys fares are around the same as private hire, give or take a bit, (some private hire firms have a £5 minimum fare at night, we dont) so all in all you cannot crwate more business by cutting fares, all you will do is go home with less money!!!

Peachy4 wrote: Mr Rowley is probably worried because with more cabs on the road they will they will have to be more competitive with the prices rather than the over inflated prices they charge at the moment!!

In case you hadn't noticed the cost of living has rocketed recently, well, guess what, the cost of taxi drivers livings has as well!!! And finally, the people who will be given these plates will have to put a side loading wheelchair acces vehicle under 4 years old on, about £15000 minimum, and there are no station permits left, so good luck out there on the street working 18 hours a day, I reckon that within 6 months many of the new plates will have changed hands!!!!! Well done once again halcrow!!!

Around the £66,000 mark I beleive, the highest one has ever sold for, I bet hes glad he sold it, wouldnt be worth that now would it, He must have been able to see into the future!!!!

Well that certainly indicates the rather corrupt nature of the whole thing, but I doubt if plate values will be hugely affected by 15 more plates.

Once again, we have this old chestnut, you take the car from the front of the rank, and pay the meter rate, sometimes, out of town jobs can be negotiated, but with the fuel prices, higher rents/vehicle costs etc, we sometimes cannot justify doing this, depending upon the job, there is less work nowadays, hackneys fares are around the same as private hire, give or take a bit, (some private hire firms have a £5 minimum fare at night, we dont) so all in all you cannot crwate more business by cutting fares, all you will do is go home with less money!!!

But there is a lot of discounting in some areas even on short runs - can't see it happening in York, but don't pretend that it can't happen.

In case you hadn't noticed the cost of living has rocketed recently, well, guess what, the cost of taxi drivers livings has as well!!!

Pity you don't mention the biggest cost to a lot of drivers - the £150 or so to rent just the licence, but then you would ignore that wouldn't you, because you're obviously part of the vested interest group who benefits from this legalised theft.

And finally, the people who will be given these plates will have to put a side loading wheelchair acces vehicle under 4 years old on, about £15000 minimum, and there are no station permits left, so good luck out there on the street working 18 hours a day, I reckon that within 6 months many of the new plates will have changed hands!!!!!

Well better of than hiring a plate, I assume?

And why would the plates change hands if they can't make a living? Someone getting a plate for free from the council will surely be in a better position to make a living than a subsequent buyer who will have to pay for it?

What you perhaps mean is that some of the new plates will be sold and profiteered from within a short period, but I suspect you'll do the same on day anyway, so I wouldn't complain too loudly!!!

Pity you don't mention the biggest cost to a lot of drivers - the £150 or so to rent just the licence, but then you would ignore that wouldn't you, because you're obviously part of the vested interest group who benefits from this legalised theft.

Just for the record I am a driver who rents a car for the night shift! I do not own a plate, I simply rent a car to try to earn a living, beleive me, in my position, when ive earned my rent/fuel money, i earn only a modest wage, why dont i do something else you may ask? Because there arnt many jobs in the driving sector that pay a livable wage in todays financial climate!

taxi owners have nothing to compline about they all like to park up at the station in the hope of a big job instead of the other ranks in York Station Taxis only hit the ranks if there is nothing at the station

york1900 wrote:
taxi owners have nothing to compline about they all like to park up at the station in the hope of a big job instead of the other ranks in York Station Taxis only hit the ranks if there is nothing at the station

thats not quite true, doing as you say a big job, it costs money to the driver as his return is running on dead unpaid miles

As a guy renting a plate, I only hope the council have thought this through as to just who receives a hackney license and enforces strict conditions on all newly issued licenses. its rhumoured on the ranks that certain private hire drivers are already looking for buyers and/or drivers to rent the plates they expect to receive free in the first wave of plates released so that they can carry on being private hire, some have even bought black, wheelchair access vehicles that they can/will rent out. Is that right or fair ? Surely conditions should state if you want the plate you have to work it yourself, if not hand it back to council so that someone who wants to do the job can do so. Perhaps those are renting plates now and already hold hackney drivers licenses, should be given priority over anyone else, at least they know the job and have already proved they want to do it, and they would'nt have to work extra hours as they'd have no rent to pay !!!!!

Try going on the council website and reading the full 126 page report, you will find full details of the waiting list which favours existing non plate holding drivers, private hire or hackney, and details of why they cannot for legal reasons limit the issue to those who live in the city, nor can they prevent anyone selling a plate. All these have been contested in court and a ruling given in previous years, and as a long term rental driver, not plate renter I stress, I would like to see a fair way of allocation.

Fairest allocation would just be to give everyone a plate who wants one.

Only the plate holders benefit from the current system; excluded drivers just pay more in rentals so the extra work available to them is pointless.

The whole sorry mess (and the contents of the above discussion is merely one facet of this) is due to councils applying one rule for some and another rule for the rest, and get themselves into such a pickle that there's no easy way out.

Even the new plates are subject to more stringent conditions, which neatly demonstrates the hypocrisy of these councillors.

Stringent conditions wont be introduced, as much as they could and should be, a sniff of corruption and self preservation maybe, as one councillor who happens to be on the licensing committee sold a hackney plate registered in his name for the princely sum of £66,000. Not to be sniffed at for doing nothing. If the council wanted to introduce conditions they could, but why wont they ??????