FUMING taxi drivers across Nuneaton and Bedworth say they have been hit by a ‘staggering’ 276 per cent rise in charges over the past three years.
Incensed by the latest increase by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, they have written to the Town Hall to object.
It was known that the borough council in its budget setting chose to increase fees and charges across the board but the new taxi driver charge is a step too far according to the Nuneaton and Bedworth Taxi Proprietors Association.
The chair of the association has sent two emails to the local authority to contest the latest rise.
In the first it suggests that the association has, for some time, been seeking a meeting to discuss a request to increase the amount that taxi users have to pay - to no avail.
“As you know we have been requesting a fare rise and would like an emergency meeting to once again try and achieve this objective, especially in the light of the percentage rises being applied to our industry in both fees and wages,” the email states.
In the second email it said: “Our association would like to object to the rise in charges for drivers and vehicles.
“The percentage rise equals a staggering 276 per cent in drivers fees, which seems inexplicable over three years when there has been no change in actual working practices.
“The rise in vehicles we understand more because of increase costs in maintenance wages etc, but unfortunately we have not been allowed to react to ours as unlike yourselves we cannot just increase our charges.”
According to a report, due to be put before the council’s cabinet tonight, the new licence fee for new driver applications has been set at £294 - £94 more than the fee in 2015/16.
The new renewal fees for drivers is £246, which is £46 more than last year’s fee.
Vehicle licence applications are to rise from £154 to £188.
But, according to council officers, the new charges still make the local authority one of the cheapest in the area.
In the report it states:
“The largest increase is in relation to the new driver applications and has resulted in an increase of 38 per cent, equating to a new weekly cost for a hackney carriage/private hire driver licence of £2.70.
“During budget setting for 2015/16, and following a review of the calculation of the costs for the services it became apparent that the council was not recovering the costs of this part of the licensing service, as more officer time was being spent on this area of work due to local demand and national changes. This was addressed through fee increases, last year generating an additional £40,000, and an estimated £30,000 this year.
“Even with the current fee increases it would appear that the fees will be reasonably comparable with other local authorities within the area.”
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