Proposals to further delay the introduction of low emission taxis and PHVs on Oxford's roads by an extra year have been rejected.
According to BBC News, Oxford City Council agreed to delay the plan until the start of 2026 at a meeting in February.
But the City of Oxford Licenced Taxicab Association (COLTA) wanted the policy to come into effect in January 2027.
The new policy will require taxis and other private hire vehicles in Oxford to meet an ultra-low emission standard.
COLTA secretary Sajad Khan (pictured) said: "As a trade, we don't think the one year compromise was a balanced judgment of the facts available to all of us."
He highlighted the impact of Covid on the city's taxi drivers, saying they had "lost four productive years".
Mr Khan added that since the pandemic, the trade had "suffered due to the unimaginable rise in living costs due to the financial crisis and very high interest rates".
The taxi association also argued that the introduction of LTNs and closure of Botley Road "created a huge disruption" and caused many drivers' earnings to "drastically" reduce.
Last month, at a general purpose licensing committee meeting, councillors agreed to delay the planned introduction in January 2025 by a year.
Louise Upton, who is the cabinet member for planning and healthier communities, said that the council had to balance "the very real needs of the taxi trade against the health needs of our residents", and that the original extension of one year was a "compromised solution" that "seemed about right".
A council spokesperson added that roughly a third of licensed hackney carriages in the city had already moved to electric vehicles.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51w95rd2jgo#
A taxi driver from Stoke-on-Trent said he was very nervous about returning to work after being attacked by a passenger with a knife.
BBC News reports that Darren Dale was injured as he took a fare home from a night out in Hanley on Saturday 16 March, and said he had never expected the journey "to turn the way it did."
Mr Dale, a taxi driver for 23 years, was slashed to the head and side.
Mr Dale said he was attacked in a dispute over a mobile phone, which the passenger had initially asked him to hold on to until they could get cash from home to pay the fare.
The passenger then wanted the phone back before the end of the journey, and Mr Dale said he handed it over, before taking it back when the customer went to get out of the car.
That led to a knife being pulled and threats being made, said the driver, who was chased around the car in the attack.
He said he had had "ordeals" during 23 years of doing the job, but "nothing on this level or scale," and the "town was getting scary to work in."
Mr Dale said he wanted to speak out about what happened as he was concerned for not just his own safety, but that of his fellow taxi drivers.
Staffordshire Police said it had arrested a man following an assault in Stoke-on-Trent at about 05:30 GMT on 16 March.
It confirmed a man in his fifties was attacked while inside a car by another man with a knife on Janson Street, Hanford, and suffered minor injuries to his head.
An 18-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent had been arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm, criminal damage and robbery.
He had since been released on police bail while inquiries continued, the force said.
A big-hearted taxi driver has been praised for surprising a young boy with additional support needs at his birthday party.
Ayr cabbie, Eddie, made young Elliott Van Rensburg’s big day even more amazing as he celebrated his eighth birthday.
Elliott was enjoying a birthday bash at Pirate Pete’s on Sunday, March 17. But he was absolutely delighted when best pal Eddie, who works for town firm Citadel Taxis, turned up.
Eddie has built a special bond with Elliott as he takes him to and from Southcraig School – a specialist Additional Support Needs school in Ayr.
Elliott is picked up in the morning by Eddie and assistant Lynda who both brighten up his morning. And when they turned up to Elliott’s big day they put a huge smile on the youngster’s face.
Elliott’s dad Brandon told the Daily Record: “Elliott absolutely loves his wee trip to school in the morning, it’s one of the highlights of his day. Eddie and Lynda are absolutely brilliant, they go out of their way for him and are his friends.
"Elliott is limited verbally but he’s learned to say Eddie because he likes him so much.
“I mentioned to them that it was Elliott’s party on Sunday and they should come along. I never expected them to actually turn up, it was such a big surprise.
“Elliott was absolutely buzzing to see them. They brought him a present – a spider-man figure – which is so nice because they know what he is into. He spent the whole party with them and they stayed the whole time.”
Eddie has been picking up Elliott since August and Brandon has said what a huge support he and Lynda both are, as he thanked Citadel Taxis for their amazing work.
Brandon added: “They are just amazing the pair of them. He always gets so excited to go to school and you can tell that a big part of that is Eddie and Lynda.
“Citadel Taxis have been brilliant for us and guys like Eddie really help families like us.
“We can’t thank them enough.”
Source: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/big-hearted-taxi-driver-praised-32401595
A Blackpool cabbie who was involved in a collision after driving through a red light has been punished by town hall licensing chiefs.
The Gazette reports that the driver, who has not been named, had their licence suspended for a week and received a letter warning them they could be stripped of their licence if such an incident happened again.
Minutes from a meeting of the council’s public protection sub-committee say dashcam footage showed the driver had been “a substantial distance from the lights” when they changed from green, and “had accelerated from approximately 18mph to 34mph when they passed through the junction.”
The driver blamed an error of judgement and pressure from their employer to meet their schedule for the offence, which happened in March 2023, but had not been reported to the council until recently.
The cabbie, who now works for another taxi company, said their previous employer only reported the incident after they had left the operator.
During the same hearing, the sub-committee stripped another driver of their licence after hearing they had been arrested over alleged drugs offences and in relation to an alleged assault in a hotel room.
Minutes from the meeting say due to “the seriousness of the offences disclosed, particularly the domestic incident in January 2024” it was considered the driver “was not a fit and proper person to hold a licence” and councillors ruled the licence should be revoked with immediate affect.
Both incidents were among four cases considered by the public protection sub-committee, sitting behind closed doors, when it met on Tuesday February 20 at Blackpool Town Hall.
A man who spat in the face of a taxi driver after becoming aggressive at the end of a night out has been ordered to pay £250 in compensation.
The Northern Scot reports that on July 22 last year, a taxi driver stopped to pick up a man and a woman outside a hotel on Low Street in Buckie at around 10.30pm.
The man, later identified as Ricki Thain, 22, from Portgordon, got into the taxi alongside the woman but the driver could not understand what he was saying.
Procurator fiscal Karen Poke told the court that it was at this stage that Thain started to get loud and aggressive.
The taxi driver pulled over but Thain demanded that she take him home.
She told him to leave the taxi but Thain grabbed her by the t-shirt, scratching her neck in the process, before spitting directly in her face. He then proceeded to spit all over the taxi.
She told him that she would phone the police but he continued to shout and started to kick the outside of the taxi.
He attempted to regain access to the taxi by pulling at the door but the taxi driver pulled away so that she could contact the police.
But Thain was still agitated when officers arrived. He screamed in the face of one officer and resisted arrest, kicking his legs out in an attempt to break free.
And, upon being moved into the back of a police van, he again started to spit profusely.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that a spit hood had to be applied en-route to the police station.
He then claimed after waking up the following morning that he had been "spiked".
Defence solicitor Grant Daglish told the court that Thain had been out with friends drinking on the night in question.
However, he has little memory of what happened but has since apologised in person to the officers who arrested him and is hopeful of doing the same for the taxi driver.
Sheriff David Sutherland ordered Thain to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
He also imposed a 12-month supervision order and ordered him to pay the taxi driver £250 in compensation.
The ride-hailing app has confirmed that it will be rolling out rides to passengers across the town, following a huge surge in demand.
A bill to allow pedicabs in London to be regulated has passed Parliament which will improve safety standards and help put an end to dangerous driving and antisocial behaviour in London hotspots.
New measures to improve taxi safety in Pendle have been welcomed and backed by borough councillors.
Enforcement seeks to crackdown on littering, property damage, defecation and urination on public land and in communities close to Heathrow Airport.
Veezu, the UK’s biggest and fastest-growing private hire firm, is extending its reach further south with the acquisition of Aqua Cars in Portsmouth.
Ibraheem Khan, 27, pounced on Abdelella Yousif in Glasgow’s St George’s Cross on November 13, 2022.
A thug and his friends ambushed a taxi driver following a row over paying with cash.
The district council is currently running a public consultation into the changes to its policy, which covers the application process, ages of vehicles used, DBS checks, and signage.
Bridlington and local residents who are looking for a new career are being urged to consider becoming licensed private hire or taxi drivers.
The problems were identified in a series of spot-checks on licensed taxis and private hire vehicles, with police stressing the majority of vehicles checked were up to standard.