Agenda item
To consider the
report of the Head of Environment
Minutes:
Submitted – a report
by the Head of the Environment
Department asking the Committee to approve the proposal from the taxi industry to review the maximum fee that may
be charged for journeys in a hackney
carriage in the County. It was highlighted that it was a requirement
that any application to change the maximum fee should be submitted by the
industry, and it was confirmed that a recent application to review fees had
been submitted by Mr J Pritchard, owner of a local taxi company. It was added that no
application to review the maximum fee had been received since 2011, and it was
stressed that the maximum fee was not applicable to journeys in private hire
vehicles.
Reference was made
to a table in the report that compared
matching fares for a two mile
journey. It
was noted that the proposed increase had been calculated by adding inflation at an average of 2.6% per annum, to the journey fare per mile specified
in 2011. It
was suggested within the industry that it was journey fares that
drove competition and it was stated that it was unlikely that every company
would raise their fares.
At
a meeting of the General Licensing Committee on the 11th of April 2019, it was
determined to accept the proposal to increase the maximum fare that could be charged for a journey in a hackney vehicle in
accordance with the recommendation; subject to statutory public consultation.
It was reported that a public consultation had taken
place and four responses had been received from individuals within the taxi
industry, and from one member of the public. It was added that the proposed
maximum fare did not come into force following the consultation due to the fact that responses had been received to the
consultation. Reference was made to the responses that
had been included in the report for the Committee to consider prior to coming
to a final decision on the maximum fare.
Members expressed
their thanks for the report and the proposal to set the maximum fare was welcomed.
One
member noted that he agreed with the proposal to setting the first mile at
£3.60 and then 30p for each part of the following 10 miles as otherwise it would be complex to set the taxi meter. In response to one of the responses
regarding that the fee for soiling a taxi was too low (£45) and consideration
should be given to increasing it to at least £70, it was argued that it was
possible to pay £40 for cleaning a car locally, therefore an increase to £70
was considered excessive. The Licensing
Manager stated that if the Committee approved the proposal to charge the
maximum, then the cleaning fee would remain at £45.
In response
to a comment that companies in rural
areas as well as urban/city areas should
be treated fairly, it was accepted that it was difficult to get access to services in the countryside, but there was no
necessity for companies to raise their fares - it was a maximum that was being set. It was noted that it would be possible for companies
to respond better to competition with this freedom.
A further comment was made that the Gwynedd proposed maximum fare continued to be competitive with the maximum fares of the other north Wales Counties and that
this was to be welcomed.
IT WAS
RESOLVED, HAVING CONSIDERED THE RESPONSES RECEIVED DURING THE CONSULTATION
PERIOD, TO APPROVE THE PROPOSAL TO INCREASE THE MAXIMUM FARE THE TAXI INDUSTRY
MAY CHARGE FOR JOURNEYS IN HACKNEY VEHICLES WITHIN THE COUNTY.
Supporting documents:
- MAXIMUM HACKNEY CARRIAGE TAXI FEES, item 6. PDF 46 KB
- Appendix 1 - Fares, item 6. PDF 103 KB
- Appendix 2 - Comparisons, item 6. PDF 42 KB
- Appendix 3 - Responses, item 6. PDF 45 KB