Taxi drivers may stage protest
There are 38,000 taxi and private hire drivers in Scotland. As we went to press, the Unite union members were planning a protest later this month at Holyrood to demand extra financial help from The Scottish Government.
The union’s Edinburgh Cab Branch have repeatedly appealed to The City of Edinburgh Council for assistance, but thought they were getting nowhere. They have been urging their members to lobby their MSPs and they may yet join the protest.
But the council may have been listening to at least some of the pleas as they meet to discuss possibilities for only the second time since March. The council says that the Licensing Service will continue "to work closely with the licensed trade to ensure understanding of the challenges faced".
It is important to realise that all the council’s licensing functions, including those for taxis, have to be self-funding. Earlier in the year, the council's Leadership Advisory Panel deferred taking payments for licence applications, although these have since been reintroduced. It cost £740,000 in lost income to defer the payments for three months, so the council has begun recovery of the licence fees to help the service stay afloat.
There is currently a £1.1 million reserve ring-fenced for use in connection with the taxi trade.
Half of that was set aside to pay the capital costs of a new licensing centre at Murrayburn which has been now been shelved and "alternatives are being examined".
The Edinburgh Cab Branch suggested that the council could continue deferral of licence fees and absorb that within the reserve fund.
However, the council says they recognise the difficult circumstances for business, but must balance this against the cost of delivering the Licensing Service.