Fylde Community Radio and the Gasjet have covered this one already, but I thought I’d toss in my two penneth.
It was decreed a number of years ago that the council’s target was for Blackpool taxis to be no older than 10 years by 2013. The maximum age is currently set at 14 years.
However, in a compromise deal between the council and Blackpool cabbies, Cllr Ian Führer Fowler and his associated apparatchiks have relaxed the incoming regulations to 12 years. I am amazed by this to be honest. Not because I think taxis should be no older than 10 years. Oh no.
Because it’s the same Ian Fowler that has been battering motorists in Blackpool ever since he was elected, the same Ian Fowler that has rammed up parking charges in Blackpool, the same Ian Fowler that has removed almost all free on-street parking, the same Ian Fowler that has sat there grinning whilst allowing the roads to become endless minefields, and the same Ian Fowler that last week defended a traffic warden for running out of the town hall into the road to block and photograph a car that had dropped someone with a broken leg off at a taxi rank.
They say traffic wardens don’t get a bonus for booking people: this suggests they do. Unless they’re all arseholes. Fowler must bear reponsibility too. There’s nowhere you can drop someone off in town any more: what choice did the driver have other than to make his wife hobble on crutches for miles from a car park? I’m interested in what taxi drivers have to say about this, too, as the guy did set the person down at a taxi rank.
Anyway, Bill Lewtas of Blackpool Licensed Taxis Association, responded to Fowler on the condition of taxis and took him on about the road surface conditions. He said that taxis would fare rather better if the roads weren’t in such a shocking state of neglect.
I would go one step further than that and impose a chronological deadline upon the council like they have on taxis. Fix the streets within a month, or rebate part of the council tax.
I’ve reported loads of shit roads on fixmystreet.com and none of them have been done yet, months later.
Copy of a email I have sent to all the cllrs who sit on the Public protection committee.It is a bit long winded but have a read,only one reply so far from Cllr Delves
Dear Councillors.
I have been reading the proposals for the Taxi and Private hire policy that will be discussed at the PPC meeting on the 8th April 2010 and I thought I would just give you my thoughts on this. It is probably a done deal already, as it is Cllr Fowlers wish to implement a unrealistic age policy and I very much doubt that the Conservatives amongst you would wish to vote against the wishes of this councillor, who just happens to sit on the executive committee.
I do not think that there should be any age limit,my taxi is tested by the council every 17 weeks and if it is good enough to pass these tests then it is good enough to carry passengers.
Lets face it, Blackpool Transport runs very old buses in their fleet and yet these are only tested once per year,if it is good enough for this company to run older vehicles then it should be good enough for us as well. I am sure you have heard the term of competing on a level playing field, if this policy is implemented, then this will not be the case.
I personally do not think that two years difference between a saloon type vehicle and a purpose built vehicle would encourage many of us to replace our purpose built wheel chair excessable taxi with another, as I myself would rather buy a newer saloon for a lot less money and save on the testing regime, £10,000 will buy me a one year old saloon as opposed to a 10 year old purpose built taxi from London,(ask yourself, which one would you rather buy if you were in my shoes, one that you could run for 9 years and have 1 test a year for the first 4 years then two thereafter or the purpose built vehicle which you could keep for 2 years and have to have it tested 3 times per year) no contest is it.
I could not support this policy, even though it is giving us a break this year, as we cannot predict whether the taxi business will improve come 2011 when the age limit is due to drop again and with the lack of visitors and the free bus passes I envisage that trade will continue to spiral downwards. Lets face it the Halcrow Report was done in peak season and that spells out that there is too many taxis per head of population, and this is not likely to improve whilst local councils cannot impose limits on the amount of private hire licences issued,unemployment is at a record level in Blackpool, so more people are tempted to have a go at operating a private hire vehicle. I have heard it many times from visitors that Blackpool has a far superior taxi services than the towns that they come from and this was also touched upon in the Halcrow report where the people surveyed thought that we had a good quality fleet of vehicles
A lot of taxi and private hire operators are already working a ridiculous amount of hours per week to try and keep their heads above water, and if the excuse for having a age limit is on the basis of public safety then this is made a mockery of by the extent of the hours worked at the moment which is of no benefit to the customer as fatigue can be a killer, if this policy is implemented then the costs of running a taxi will be higher, and as a lot will be lumbered with additional loans,(that is if the bank will lend the money in the first place) then this will result in them having to work even more hours in order to repay the loan. Another safety issues to the public is that vehicles may not be serviced as frequently, as the money may not be available for this, due to the amount of money having to be found to service the loan.
If you are allowing saloons to have a 10 year age limit, then purpose built should have at least 4 years more to help with the capital outlay. I am sure that there are a lot of taxi drivers who operate wheelchair accessible taxis agree with my comments.
Also I would like to touch upon the testing regime,it should be based more on the mileage of a vehicle, as opposed to the age of it,lets face it, if a new cab less than 5 years old on a radio company is doing 50,000 + miles per year compared with my cab that does 22,000 miles per year, then I am sure the components on the newer taxi will be more worn than on mine and yet it is tested once a year compared to mine that is tested 3 times per year,this policy does not seem right, although it does encourage some to buy newer vehicles to get away from this ridiculous testing regime.
I would like to see the Manchester testing regime that all taxis no matter what age are tested twice per year,this seems a fairer policy.
I ask you to use common sense and propose an amendment to this policy to leave the age limit for purpose built vehicles at 14 years for the foreseeable future,so that it gives us some encouragement to purchase the purpose built cab.
You certainly provide a robust case Dave, and the system that Manchester operates would seem to be the most logical and indeed fair!
I’m not sure where Fowler’s got this idea that because a car is over 10 years old it is therefore unsafe. I bet if you looked at the figures for accidents and compared them with the ages of the vehicles involved, there would be no correlation between the age of the car and the number of accidents.
You’re right about the buses too. Many of them are very very old. It stinks of one rule for the council and one for everyone else.
Thinking about it, it’s a similar scenario to the plight of hotels and guesthouses. The Callows want them to modernise but provide no assistance, and instead have tried to kill them off with this reclassification of designated tourism areas.
Dave Palme is the fackin daddy now!
Excellent letter Dave!
Only trouble is by slagging off the Conservatives in the first paragraph you will have immediately lost their support!
You are probably 99% correct but if you had left the political references out you may have been in with a shout of getting some support.
As soon as party politics gets involved they all band together.
Bollox of course but it happens!
“Politics before people” should be this council’s slogan
Bring on the MIGHTY BILL’Leviathan’ LEWTAS,avenger of the common people, slayer of the FOULER dragon.
Fowler Take note!!!!!: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8594682.stm
Good point Harold. How long before the same happens here in Blackpool? Newton Drive is an accident waiting to happen, to mention just one of many!
Trooblue, I believe in speaking my mind,whether they like it or not, and after holding a conversation last year with Councillor Henry Mitchell who is supposed to be the chairmen of the public protection committee, he told me that they do not have any power these days as it is decided by the council executive which Cllr Fowler happens to be a part off, does not sound very democratic to me,makes me wonder why we have all these other councillors as it seems as though all policys are decided by this executive, with just menial tasks decided by the rest of the councillors.Bring on the Integrity party where they want to change this system, so that all councillors will get a vote,that way we may see common sense rule.
You are absolutely right Dave, but if you are sending a letter to a group of people hoping to get their support then its not a good idea to get their back up in the first paragraph!
If that same letter was in the readers letters of the Gasjet I would agree with you 100%
At the moment I am involved in the democratic process of asking the members of our Association if they are content with these arrangements, or if they wish our Committee to oppose them. I intend speaking at the PPC meeting on 8th April.
The double standard of allowing Blackpool Transport to operate ancient buses, which are tested just once per year and belch out harmful emissions just staggers me. I have yet to hear any justification for this appalling situation.
For those of you who don’t know the Department of Transport Best Practice Guidance for taxis reminds licensing authorities that “it is perfectly possible for an older vehicle to be in good condition and the setting of an age limit beyond which they will not licence vehicles may be arbitrary and disproportionate”. Blackpool chooses to ignore this advice.
Troobloo, it will be interesting to see if these councillors have any sort of back bone at this meeting, I think not,as to vote against this policy that has been pushed by Fowler would not see them get promotion to better paid committees if Fowler was to take over leadership if Callow gets removed.You rub my back and I will rub yours come to mind,but we will see. Lets face it we had convinced the Council employees that there was nothing wrong with a 15 year age limit with our arguments,but then Fowler steamed in and asked them to rewrite the policy as it was not to his liking,The funny thing is that he has Cllr Evans support in this who used to own a taxi,he always ran an old banger,(or a pile of shit) obviously another one licking up, hoping to land a prominent position in the near future. amazing how far you get in the council if you are prepared to do a bit of licking, stops a lot of good candidates landing jobs in all walks of life that they are better qualified for, as they are willing to go against the grain.