Harvey Chauhan
A NEW taxi firm that uses state-of-the-art technology to take bookings is locked in a battle with the city council over whether the system is legal.
Harvey Chauhan launched his Affordable Chauffeurs business in Derby last month.
Unlike other private hire firms, which take bookings over the phone, his company uses staff with fluorescent jackets who take bookings on the street.
They use hand-held satellite navigation devices to take the bookings, agree a fixed price, call the driver working nearest the location and print out a receipt.
The receipt is handed to the driver at the end of the journey so that he or she knows the price agreed.
But within days of Mr Chauhan starting up in the Wardwick, the system sparked complaints from hackney cab drivers and questions from the council’s licensing department.
Only hackney cabs may be hailed from the street. And although Mr Chauhan’s firm takes booking, the council wanted to make sure it was not illegally touting for business.
It told Mr Chauhan to stop using the equipment while it looked into the legality of the system.
But he says that while the investigation is taking place, he is losing between £500 and £600 a week, as well as drivers who had agreed to use the system.
He claims he tried to show council officers the equipment several times before launching the business to make sure they were aware of how he would be operating.
Mr Chauhan said: “I’m hoping we will reach an agreement with the council this week.
“But it should have been tied up before I even went into business.
“I knew from other areas that questions had been raised by councils, so I went in to Derby City Council several times to try to show them the equipment and explain it to them to answer any of those questions straight away.
“They weren’t interested in a demonstration of the equipment and it wasn’t until after I started operating on June 5 that a licensing officer said they thought there could be an issue with the system.
“Then, on June 8, they said they didn’t think it was legal and told me not to use it.”
Mr Chauhan said he had paid £45,000 for the software to run the business, which he saw as a niche market, and was losing money every day.
Javed Khan, chairman of Derby Area Taxi Operators’ Association, said: “I confronted this business last month in the Wardwick because, as far as I could see, they were illegally touting for hire.
“The drivers didn’t appear to have any ID and we couldn’t see plates on the vehicles.
“We have got concerns about public safety.”
But Mr Chauhan said his company did not approach potential customers and people with the handheld devices just wore fluorescent jackets saying “for affordable cars book here”.
A council spokesman said: “We are aware that a complaint has been made and are, therefore, unable to comment until a full inquiry has been conducted into the matter.”