SCC Have Lost Control of Taxis

[Resident 1,185]

Seems taxi drivers using out of area plates is once again rearing it's ugly head. 

 

This morning on Hanover way from St Mary's Gate I saw no less than 6 Calderdale plated taxis, one dangerously forcing his way across all 4 lanes of traffic. 

 

High time SCC started getting off their backsides and dealing with it like other cities that are proactive about dealing with rogue taxis, both out of areas and dodgy motors. 

[mike84 13]

What are the taxis that are registered in Calderdale doing that is against the rules by working in Sheffield?

 

[Planner1 428]

2 hours ago, Resident said:

Seems taxi drivers using out of area plates is once again rearing it's ugly head. 

 

This morning on Hanover way from St Mary's Gate I saw no less than 6 Calderdale plated taxis, one dangerously forcing his way across all 4 lanes of traffic. 

 

High time SCC started getting off their backsides and dealing with it like other cities that are proactive about dealing with rogue taxis, both out of areas and dodgy motors. 

Cabs licensed elsewhere are entitled to work here and anywhere else they choose. Report any issues you have with a licensed cab to the authority who licenses them.

 

The Police are the correct authority to deal with inappropriate/careless/dangerous driving.  Report any issues you observe to them. It is not something SCC can deal with. 

 

So bearing these in mind, exactly what is it you think SCC can do or should be doing?

[nightrider 13]

4 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

Cabs licensed elsewhere are entitled to work here and anywhere else they choose. Report any issues you have with a licensed cab to the authority who licenses them.

 

The Police are the correct authority to deal with inappropriate/careless/dangerous driving.  Report any issues you observe to them. It is not something SCC can deal with. 

 

So bearing these in mind, exactly what is it you think SCC can do or should be doing?

They could lobby the government to ban taxi's not licensed in Sheffield.

 

It's a well known scam that taxi drivers pick an authority where its easiest to get a licence in order to get around the fact they would not pass the requirements elsewhere. Licenses can currently be used nationally. There have been many news articles about this (though usually its been Wolverhampton mentioned as giving licenses out with few checks).

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

24 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

Cabs licensed elsewhere are entitled to work here and anywhere else they choose. Report any issues you have with a licensed cab to the authority who licenses them.

 

The Police are the correct authority to deal with inappropriate/careless/dangerous driving.  Report any issues you observe to them. It is not something SCC can deal with. 

 

So bearing these in mind, exactly what is it you think SCC can do or should be doing?

Hmmm...

... well how about introducing some sort of 'congestion charge'?

 

Maybe the Council could propose a plan to charge taxis say, £10 a day, then that would see the back of them?

 

We could start just within the inner ring road and then when they've all been driven away (quite literally) we could maybe extend it to the rest of the city?

 

But I think we ought to change the name from 'congestion charge' to something more socially acceptable, something like 'clean air strategy' - we don't want to upset anyone after all ...

 

... what do you mean it's a stupid idea?

[Resident 1,185]

23 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

Cabs licensed elsewhere are entitled to work here and anywhere else they choose. Report any issues you have with a licensed cab to the authority who licenses them.

 

The Police are the correct authority to deal with inappropriate/careless/dangerous driving.  Report any issues you observe to them. It is not something SCC can deal with. 

 

So bearing these in mind, exactly what is it you think SCC can do or should be doing?

Then how is it that Liverpool and a few other authorities are patrolling their streets and questioning out of town drivers, specifically checking where they're picking fares up. 

 

All authorities should be proactively checking that out of town drivers are legitimately just setting down passengers then returning to their authority. 

 

2nd, and this needs to be done, the licence requirements should be standardised nationally with a database of failed applications and revoked licences

 

Apparently calderdale, like Wolverhampton have ridiculously Lax standards and fees & hand out plates like sweets. How many of those plate holders are actually below the required standard of SCC? How many of those plate holders FAILED their application for a Sheffield plate?

 

I'll wager a good number. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the Calderdale/Wolverhampton plate holders have previously had their Sheffield plate taken from them. 

[nightrider 13]

52 minutes ago, Resident said:

Then how is it that Liverpool and a few other authorities are patrolling their streets and questioning out of town drivers, specifically checking where they're picking fares up. 

 

All authorities should be proactively checking that out of town drivers are legitimately just setting down passengers then returning to their authority. 

 

2nd, and this needs to be done, the licence requirements should be standardised nationally with a database of failed applications and revoked licences

 

Apparently calderdale, like Wolverhampton have ridiculously Lax standards and fees & hand out plates like sweets. How many of those plate holders are actually below the required standard of SCC? How many of those plate holders FAILED their application for a Sheffield plate?

 

I'll wager a good number. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the Calderdale/Wolverhampton plate holders have previously had their Sheffield plate taken from them. 

I don't know about Liverpool.

 

I am just quoting what I have read in news articles over the last 3-4 months about this issue. From what I had read I am certain it said local authorities had no powers to prevent out of town taxi licensees working in their area.

 

If a council can actually do something about it then that's good news, and perhaps SCC should therefore do  something...

[sheffbag 227]

When Rotherham introduced having CCTV in their cabs quite a few "Calderdale" taxis started appearing as it wasn't a requirement over there at that time. Don't know if that has changed now.

 

No comment

 

[Planner1 428]

1 hour ago, Resident said:

Then how is it that Liverpool and a few other authorities are patrolling their streets and questioning out of town drivers, specifically checking where they're picking fares up. 

 

All authorities should be proactively checking that out of town drivers are legitimately just setting down passengers then returning to their authority. 

 

2nd, and this needs to be done, the licence requirements should be standardised nationally with a database of failed applications and revoked licences

 

Apparently calderdale, like Wolverhampton have ridiculously Lax standards and fees & hand out plates like sweets. How many of those plate holders are actually below the required standard of SCC? How many of those plate holders FAILED their application for a Sheffield plate?

 

I'll wager a good number. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the Calderdale/Wolverhampton plate holders have previously had their Sheffield plate taken from them. 

Sheffield Council (with assistance from Police and other partners) can and do carry out on-street checks on cabs (hackneys and private hire) operating in Sheffield. That includes private hire vehicles picking up passengers who haven't booked. These operations are often reported in the local media.

 

It's clear from your answer that you don't understand the reality of what is happening regarding cab licensing and operation and you appear to have an unrealistic expectation of what can be done by SCC.

 

it is perfectly legitimate for a cab which works in Sheffield to be licensed anywhere in the country. 

 

Drivers are licensing their cabs in places like Rossendale, Calderdale etc because its cheaper than doing it here. The law allows them do so. There's nothing SCC can do about it. It is an issue for central government to resolve and it most certainly has been raised with them by local authorities across the country including SCC. 

 

If you want tighter regulation of cabs you need to be writing to your MP.

 

If you want SCC to carry out more checks on-street you need to speak to your Councillors. Everything has a cost and if you want more spending on that, the money has to come of a budget somewhere else in the Council. The Councillors have to take the balanced view and set the priorities.

[Eccy Beach 11]

As a number of posters have commented on, SCC's hands are somewhat tied on this. Whilst Liverpool may be doing some exploratory work on this, they nor any other local authority, have any power to prevent vehicles from picking up/dropping off fares from areas they are not licensed in.

The department for transport recently published a report into private hire and taxi licensing issues which was produced by a working group including industry representatives and those interested in the welfare of the public.

 

Whilst not all members of the group were able to sign up to all the recommendations, there are suggestions in the report as to how to deal with some of the issues identified in this thread.

 

SCC could be lobbying central government on this, and may well be doing, I suspect the local government agency of which they will be members certainly will be. But good luck with getting legislative change through at the moment with Brexit still taking up most departments time.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Eccy Beach

[rayggb 13]

Poober/uber is the new licensing authority (my opinion),your licensing authority has no arms or legs anymore.the government has allowed it to happen,now let us all reap the consequences of it.

[*_ash_* 88]

7 hours ago, rayggb said:

Poober/uber is the new licensing authority (my opinion),your licensing authority has no arms or legs anymore.the government has allowed it to happen,now let us all reap the consequences of it.

though saying that, the last government did same with gambling licenses. 2 hugely underestimated changes in law, that have caused lots of problems down the line (of time)

12 hours ago, Resident said:

Seems taxi drivers using out of area plates is once again rearing it's ugly head. 

 

This morning on Hanover way from St Mary's Gate I saw no less than 6 Calderdale plated taxis, one dangerously forcing his way across all 4 lanes of traffic. 

 

High time SCC started getting off their backsides and dealing with it like other cities that are proactive about dealing with rogue taxis, both out of areas and dodgy motors. 

Not much SCC can do other than ban them from bus lanes which will mean only SCC licenses can use them, and would instantly finish this long standing problem, especially since government dereg on them. This doesn't look like happening, because of technicalities.

9 hours ago, Resident said:

Then how is it that Liverpool and a few other authorities are patrolling their streets and questioning out of town drivers, specifically checking where they're picking fares up. 

 

All authorities should be proactively checking that out of town drivers are legitimately just setting down passengers then returning to their authority. 

 

2nd, and this needs to be done, the licence requirements should be standardised nationally with a database of failed applications and revoked licences

 

Apparently calderdale, like Wolverhampton have ridiculously Lax standards and fees & hand out plates like sweets. How many of those plate holders are actually below the required standard of SCC? How many of those plate holders FAILED their application for a Sheffield plate?

 

I'll wager a good number. 

 

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the Calderdale/Wolverhampton plate holders have previously had their Sheffield plate taken from them. 

I'll not go into this again, as repeating myself over and over, but as easy as this sounds, is just so far from straight forward, that it's not the answer.

 

In short though to recap, the primary reason why people go to Rossendale, Wolverhampton, Calderdale etc. isn't necessarily that they are paedos or rapists or the rest of social media reasons... it's simply because they can't pass the Sheffield knowledge test, and to be fair, as the law stands, they don't have to, because there is a cheaper option!

 

(cue: what knowledge tests, ''I got a taxi from the station the other day, and he didn't even know where the station was'')

 

If the CAZ doesn't include OOT vehicles, we'll see many many more of these.

If the CAZ does include OOT vehicles, then we see many many more of these, as all the old Rossendales/Wolverhampton ones realise this new place to find an easy way to work in Sheffield. (and other big cities)

 

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by *_ash_*