The common term for
Hackney Carriages is ‘taxis’, a customer can flag down
a taxi in the street or at taxi ranks without booking unlike
private hire vehicles that must always be booked in advance of the
journey.
Section 65 of the
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, allows the
Council to set the maximum costs and fares that drivers may charge
the public for journeys taken in a taxi. The Council does not have
powers to set fares for journeys in private hire vehicles.
Taxi fares were made
up of an initial hiring charge (flag fall) and a mileage rate, both
of which were expressed in terms of distance and or time.
The Tariff had to be displayed within
all taxis to allow passengers to calculate the approximate cost of
their journey.
In accordance with the
statutory procedure set out in Section 65 of the Local Government
Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976, Members agree the proposed
changes to the Tariff, the Council must then undertake a public
consultation prior to making any amendment to the Tariff.
A notice must be published in at least
one local newspaper circulating in the areas setting out the
variation and specifying the period, which cannot be less than 14
days from the date of the first publication of the notice, within
which and the manner in which, objections can be made.
If no objections to
the variation of the Tariff are received, or if all objections are
withdrawn, the revised Tariff will come into operation on the date
of the expiration of the consultation period. However, if any objections are made and not
withdrawn, the Cabinet will consider the objections and set a
further date, not later than two months after the first specified
date, on which the tariff shall come into force with or without
further modifications.
At the meeting
Councillor Tranter proposed and Councillor Billings seconded a
motion that was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet, as set out
above.
