Agenda item

With the agreement of the Committee, the Chair advised that this item would be moved up the agenda to enable the seven members of the taxi trade present to leave once the report had been considered. 

The Licensing Officer, Emily Westlake, presented the report which asked the Committee to consider whether an increase to the East Devon hackney carriage fare tariff was necessary at this time.  If a fare increase was considered appropriate, the Committee were asked to indicate their preferred option from the revised fare tariff tables set out at Appendix F to the report, and authorise the publication of a public notice setting out the proposed fare tariff in a local newspaper and at the Council Offices in line with the powers conferred by Section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The Chair thanked the Licensing Officer for the considerable amount of work which had been undertaken to produce the report.

Responses to questions from Councillors and discussion included the following points:

·        A small increase in the fare tariff would be preferable as there was a need to strike a balance;

·        The Licensing Officer had consulted with the meter fitters who had advised that moving to calculating fares on a yardage basis would present no problem with re-calibrating meters going forwards, if the Committee was minded to agree that option;

·        Meters must be re-calibrated by approved meter fitters, of which there were two for the District.  Drivers had to pay a charge of approximately £25 and also take time out to travel out of the District which was a significant cost in terms of loss of working time;

·        Regarding the option to charge less than the maximum agreed fares, it was noted that most drivers would generally charge the maximum fare and would not undercut other drivers and companies in the area;

·        In response to a question regarding increasing the number of meter fitters in the area, the Licensing Officer would continue to pursue this.  The Chair would be happy to add support by way of a letter if appropriate;

·        The Licensing Officer would also continue to ask meter fitters to attend locations in East Devon to reduce the distance taxi drivers had to travel to have meters re-calibrated;

·        The previous survey on the Guildford method of calculating fare tariffs had not yet been re-started.  Licensing Officers continued to try to collate the necessary information themselves;

·        It was noted that whichever system for calculating the fare tariff was used, within the taxi trade the members held differing views, depending on their own circumstances, as to whether the fares should be increased or not at the current time;

·        Regarding the low response to the recent Guildford method consultation, it was noted that drivers did not trust that any information they provided would only be used for the purpose of introducing the method, despite assurances from Licensing Officers that this would be the case;

·        Concern was raised that even a small increase in the current fare tariff would have a detrimental effect on customers and that this would then have a negative impact on the taxi trade;

·        Should the Council move towards a policy of the taxi trade using only electric vehicles, the trade needed to be well supported at the present time to enable it to plan ahead for the cost of purchasing electric vehicles;

Having agreed that an increase to the fare tariff should be introduced, the Committee debated the appropriate level of the increase set out in the options shown in Appendix F to the report.

AGREED

1.     That the Hackney Carriage fare tariff be increased as set out at version 3 of Appendix F of the report (increase of approximately 2% to all tariffs), and

2.     That the requisite public notice of 14 days be given of the proposed increase as required by Section 65(2) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.