Taxi drivers put brakes on huge fares increase

Nov 27 2008 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a whopping 25 per cent hike in taxi fares have hit the skids.

Taxi drivers were up in arms over at the plans, proposed by South Lanarkshire Council’s Licensing Committee, to raise the cost of a two-mile journey from £4 to £5.

Cabbies feared the huge increase in fares could drive customers away and put their livelihoods at risk.

Taxi drivers Pat McMahon and Gordon Frew appealed to Joan Aitken, the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, against the decision of South Lanarkshire Council to set a new tariff for the Hamilton zone.

Taxi drivers and the council both argued their case in front of the Traffic Commissioner at a hearing at Hamilton District Court last month.

Mrs Aitken published her decision last week and ruled in favour of the appeal.

It means the fares tariff for the Hamilton zone of South Lanarkshire Council area will be unchanged from the current tariff.

The decision will take effect from December 15, 2008.

Gordon Frew, chairman of Hamilton TOA, welcomed the decision.

“The 25 per cent increase in the current climate was wrong,” he said.

“Taxi drivers will be happy that there is not a 25 per cent increase but some of them would have been looking for an inflationary rise. Unfortunately, it was a 25 per cent rise or nothing.

“I think that from a business point of view then a zero per cent increase has to be the best option at the moment.

“We wanted to let the public know that we didn’t want a 25 per cent increase. We did our best to stop it and we managed to do this.

“At the end of the day, it would have been taxi users who would have to pay the 25 per cent increase in fares.”

Pat McMahon, secretary of Hamilton TOA, added: “We always had our customers at heart.

“Our customer base is shrinking and we thought that we would lose even more of them because of a 25 per cent rise so we opposed this for the sake of our customers.

“As much as taxi drivers need more money, we thought the rise would be more detrimental to our business.”

Local authorities review taxi fares every 18 months.

Any increase is based on a complex formula which takes into consideration the running cost of a taxi and the rate of inflation.

Gordon Frew enlisted the help of Dr James Cooper, of Edinburgh’s Napier University, who is an expert in Taxi Studies. He said the 25 per cent increase was wrong.

Following a discussion with the taxi trade and the council, the Taxi Studies Group at Napier University are seeking to meet with the trade and local authority to revisit the review.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman said: “The Traffic Commissioner did not support the proposed increase in taxi fares.

“The increase put forward by the council was in line with a formula that had been agreed between the trade and the council and which had operated for many years.

“The council will implement the Commissioner’s findings.”