Council’s U-turn over taxi licence hikes

Jun 13 2009 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TAXI driver licence fee changes have been significantly reduced after drivers protested over Kirklees Council’s planned hikes.

Hundreds of cabbies have previously blocked town centre streets in protest of the licence increases.

But the council has now done a U-turn and has announced new licensing fees – most of which are significantly cheaper than originally proposed.

Amjad Nadeem, secretary of Kirklees Hackney Carriage Association, said he would wait for feedback from members and taxi drivers before commenting in the new prices.

But he thanked the council for taking on board their views.

He said: “It’s nice that the council is looking into our problems and can come up with a decision.

“I am glad they have taken on board what we have said in relation to the current climate.

“But at the end of the day we represent all our taxi drivers and we really need to wait for feedback from them. They will look at the new fees and make a decision themselves.”

Mr Nadeem added: “We didn’t want to protest or for the public to suffer because of a strike and we still don’t want to do that.

“We need to wait for our members to look and tell us what they think.”