Huddersfield taxi strike called off

Apr 30 2009 By Barry Gibson

Taxi drivers’ representatives met councillors at Crown Court Buildings yesterday afternoon to try to thrash out a deal.

But Mr Nadeem said the meeting had ended without agreement. He said: "The council have refused to budge. They told us it’s a final decision and that’s that. They are not even prepared to listen."

However, licensing chief Clr Christine Iredale denied this.

She said: "The decision is not final. The consultation period doesn’t end until May 13 and then we will have a meeting of the Licensing and Safety Committee to discuss the fees."

Clr Iredale added she was happy the strike would not go ahead.

The Golcar Lib Dem said: "I’m pleased because there will be a lot of people going out this weekend who will want to use taxis. If the drivers want to protest then that’s their choice, but I think it’s premature."

Clr David Sheard said the licence fee increases were needed to make sure Kirklees taxis were safe.

The Cabinet member for transport said: "The new charges will mean that licence fees are much fairer and much more in line with what taxi drivers and taxi firm owners would expect to pay in other parts of West Yorkshire. They will enable us to offer a much safer taxi service for the public.

"Retaining the old charges would mean in effect that the tax payer was subsidising numerous private enterprises."