Fewer taxis available in Cheshire East as drivers turn to delivery jobs
Nearly 150 drivers have quit because of the pandemic
There aren't many taxis available in Cheshire East, as almost 150 drivers have quit their jobs due to the impact of the pandemic.
Kim Evans, licensing team leader for Cheshire East council, said shortages have been a regional and national issue, while London was down about 4,000 drivers.
She also mentioned that many drivers have switched to making deliveries, with there being a big upturn in ordering food during the pandemic.
“When the night-time economy was shut down through various lockdowns, that obviously had an impact on how much money they were able to bring in,” she said.
“Was it worth them staying, was it worth them renewing licences when, compounded by that, the online ordering and then deliveries of those online orders massively went up?”
An increase in fees, despite a downturn in drivers
The matter of driver shortages arose during Cheshire East's licensing committee meeting on Monday (10 January), where the council was considering increasing fees and charges for Hackney Carriage and private hire vehicles.
Mrs Evans, however, said there were no concrete plans to increase the fees for driver's licenses.
“Whether that’s to grant or renewal, we’re not proposing to increase those this year,” she said.
“Although this is probably a very modest thing that we can do, it’s one of the things that we can do to try and ensure that new applicants do come forward.”
But, some fees and charges will have to go up, she said.
What changes can be expected?
- It's proposed that the cost of a Hackney Carriage or private hire vehicle license will increase to ÂŁ320 from ÂŁ315 a year
- The test fee would also rise from ÂŁ80 to ÂŁ85
- It's also proposed that a five-year private hire operator’s licence would increase from £360 to £375.
The licensing committee voted to confirm the proposed changes and authorised the them to be published.
“The fees that we charge need to cover the cost of service provision,” said Mrs Evans. “That includes staffing costs, that includes cost of materials for plates, all of the ancillary things around the licensing regime that you can imagine.
“So we have still proposed increases in the other types of licences that are there – the vehicle licences, the operator licences, and then some increases in the test fees as well and vehicle testing fees.”