Agenda item

The Committee considered a report on the Hackney Carriage Table of Fares.

 

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing informed the Committee that, in March 2022, the Licensing Committee had approved the advertisement of a revised table of fares which was subsequently implemented in May 2022.

 

At the time this decision was reached, Members also decided that the table of fares should be reviewed annually and that an interim review should take place during the second half of 2022 if the circumstances merited this.

 

Officers had also recently received a request submitted on behalf of hackney

carriage licence holders, for the table of fares to be further varied to address

some unintended consequences that were noticed by licence holders since the

implementation of the revised table of fares in May 2022.

 

The current table of fares, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, were

approved by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 14^th March 2022 and

took effect on 16^th May 2022.

 

The report also detailed, on page 30, the weekly fuel price data provided by the

 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS); showing the

average price of fuel in the week commencing 14^th March 2022; and in the week

commencing 12^th September 2022, according to the same statistics, the

average price of fuel.

 

This showed that fuel prices had continued to rise since March 2022. Fuel

prices peaked in July 2022 but had been coming down gradually since then.

The increase in fuel prices since March 2022 was despite the temporary 5p per

litre reduction in fuel duty, effective from 6pm on 23^rd March 2022.

 

The cost of fuel was of course only one factor that Members should consider

when determining whether it was appropriate to vary the table of fares. Also,

of relevance would be other general increases in the cost of living for hackney

carriage proprietors.

 

As detailed on page 30 of the report, according to the data compiled by the

Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by

9.9% in the 12 months to August 2022, up from 7.0% in March 2022 but down

slightly from 10.1% in July 2022. The Bank of England had predicted that

inflation would climb to around 13% later this year, driven by the unprecedented

increase in energy prices. Inflation was then predicted to remain high

throughout much of 2023 before beginning to fall towards the Bank of England

target of 2%

 

Since the current table of fares had taken effect, officers were approached by

representatives of the hackney carriage trade in Bromsgrove in respect of some

unintended consequences that had been created by the new table of fares.

 

These included the fact that drivers of vehicles capable of carrying more than

4 passengers were now often not able to charge as much for journeys involving

more than four passengers as they were under the previous table of fares from

that was in operation from 1^st August 2013 to 15^th May 2022.

 

This was because the structure of the table of fares was amended in such a

way as to remove the ability for drivers to charge 50% more than the standard

tariff for those journeys involving the carriage of more than 4 passengers.

Although an additional charge was included in the table of fares to allow the

charging of £1 for every passenger in excess of 4, this did not provide the same

level of recompense to drivers, particular for longer journeys involving the

carriage of 5 or 6 passengers.

 

The trade representatives had therefore requested that the table of fares be

amended to allow drivers to charge the Tariff Two rates for any journey where

the number of passengers being transported exceeded four. As a

consequence, the extra charge per passenger in excess of four would need to

be removed from the table of fares.

 

Additionally, it was also highlighted that under the current table of fares, the

mileage rate was the same on both Tariff One and Tariff Two – equivalent to 

£2.00 per mile. The flag charge was higher on Tariff One than it was on Tariff

Two, but the trade representatives felt that the mileage rate should also be

higher on Tariff Two to provide an additional incentive and recompense for

drivers to work after midnight.

 

They had therefore requested that the mileage rate on Tariff Two be increased

from 20p per 176 yards to 30p per 176 yards.

 

The trade had also requested that the mileage rate on Tariff Three be increased

from 30p per 176 yards to 40p per 176 yards to provide further incentive and

recompense for drivers to work on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s

Day.

 

Finally, the trade representatives had asked that the maximum soilage charge

be increased from £75.00 to £100.00. Whilst soilage charges very rarely had

to be charged, the trade representatives believed that the maximum charge

needed to cover the likely cost of cleaning the vehicle and to provide a level of

compensation for the income lost whilst the vehicle was off the road being

cleaned.

 

Taking into account of the requests made by the trade representatives, officers

had drafted a revised table of fares, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report.

 

Legislation required that any changes to the table of fares were published as a

public notice and objections invited. If no objections were received the fares

would come into force on the named date, 7^th November 2022. If there were

objections, then the Council must consider them and re-set the fares with or

without variations. No further statutory consultation was required at that time.

 

Therefore, Members were being asked to consider the requests received and,

if in agreement to make the variations requested and to direct officers to

undertake the legal processes required to advertise the varied tariff shown at

Appendix 2 to the report, with a view to this taking effect on 7^th November 2022.

 

However, if any objections were received when the proposed variations were

advertised, then the variations could not take effect until after those objections

had been considered at a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.

 

Members raised several questions with regard to the increase in the tariff for

multi passenger vehicles carrying five or more passengers. Members

expressed their concerns that this could impact on families, facing colossal

amounts of money when travelling together, whereby not all passengers were

adults.  Therefore, the increased fare would not be shared, as would be the

case if all passengers travelling were adults.

 

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS, reminded the Committee that the

increase in tariffs was for hackney carriage vehicles only. The fare for private

hire vehicles would be agreed when pre-booking.  Multi passenger vehicles

were also more expensive to run and maintain.

 

Further debate followed, whereby Members agreed that the ‘Explanation of

Tariffs Applicable’, as detailed on page 35 of the report, be amended as

follows:-

 

“Journeys where there were five or more adult passengers”.

 

Members were mindful that the requests with regard to the variations to the

table of fares had been requested by the trade representatives, and that

as detailed in the report, that officers were required to undertake the legal

process of advertising the varied tariff, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the

report.  With this in mind, Members were of the opinion that the trade

representatives would be able to raise any concerns with the amended

statement, as detailed in the preamble above, should they wish to do so; and

that any objections received would be brought back to a future meeting of the

Licensing Committee.

 

RESOLVED that following the amendment, as detailed in the preamble above,

to the revised table of fares for hackney carriages, ‘Explanation of Tariffs

Applicable’, that

a)            the amended proposed table of taxi fares, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report, be advertised as a public notice and objections from the public invited in accordance with the requirements of section 65, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1976;

b)         if no objections were received from the public within 14 days of publication of the notice that the proposed tariff would come into effect on 7^th November 2022; and

 

 

c)         if objections were received in the stated time, that the matter would be considered further at the next meeting of the Licensing Committee, and a decision made as to whether the variations to the table of fares should be made.