Taxi for councillors – rage at 30pc licence fee rise in Staffordshire
Licence fees for taxi drivers are set to soar by up to 30 per cent in part of Staffordshire – angering drivers who say they will struggle to make ends meet.
Drivers and operators in Burntwood, Chasetown and Lichfield are set to be hit by the proposals.
Lichfield District Council says it needs to cover the cost of running taxi services and does not currently break even. Bosses want to increase operator licences from £50 per vehicle to £65 a year. Meanwhile, hackney carriage vehicle licences will rise from £180 to £205 under the plans.
Lichfield Hackney Association says members 'utterly and unanimously' oppose the hike.
The association's chairman Mohammed Imran said in a written response: "You cannot expect my members to absorb these huge increases when you single handedly reduced the fair tariffs potentially back to that they were before 2006.
"My members are hard-working people who are already struggling to make a living due to the unfair and harsh policy regarding the hackney carriage trade, not to mention the economic state."
Although hackney carriage licences are set to rise, prices for private hire vehicles will drop from £165 to £145 under the plans. The council's principal environmental health officer, Gareth Davies, insisted there was a need to increase the charges.
He said: "Our objective is to set our fees at a level to cover the cost, but not make a surplus. Historically, the taxi trade has only paid part of the costs for running this service. Recent reviews of fees have been aimed to reduce the level of subsidy and move towards full recovery."
