200 cabbies hit road in ‘out of town’ protest

ALMOST 200 cabbies took to the roads of Manchester to protest over ‘out of town’ private hire drivers ‘flooding’ the city.

The convoy of mostly black cabs made its way from Old Trafford to Deansgate, disrupting traffic.

Drivers’ fury centred around a ‘licensing loophole’ which they argue is jeopardising passenger safety - and their livelihoods.

The law they’re battling to change means private hire drivers licensed by other authorities like Rochdale, Rossendale, Oldham - and as far afield as London and Wolverhampton - can pick up pre-booked fares in Manchester.

Unlike hackney drivers, private hire cabs cannot pick up customers without an advance booking.

But since de-regulation in 2015, it’s been acceptable for operators who take those bookings to ‘subcontract’ jobs to drivers licensed in a different area - as long as their vehicle and driver’s licence match the operator they are registered to. That allows private-hire vehicles to operate across the whole of the country, regardless of where they were originally licensed.

And with the rise of firms like Uber - run through an app - it’s become a ‘free for all’, black cab drivers say.

It means, for example, that an Uber driver can be licensed in Rossendale but pick up a fare in Ancoats. It’s also the case that hackney licence drivers can switch to operating as a private hire driver anywhere and for any ●●Manchester Taxi drivers protest on Deansgate over ‘out of town’ drivers – including from Rochdale – picking up fares in the city operator.

Exacerbating the problem, Manchester city council’s enforcement officers are only allowed to stop drivers licensed by them - so there’s no way of checking if out-of-town drivers are legitimate. All they can do is report drivers to the relevant authority.

Sean Kenny from the Manchester Taxi Owners and Drivers Association (TODA) said: “Manchester City Council has standards in place to protect the public.

“We think customers’ safety is compromised, licensing officers can’t check drivers, who often don’t know the geography of the area.”

Sean said drivers may not be insured to drive everywhere they operate.

Bob Hassam, a Manchester cab driver, added: “Out of town drivers are flooding the city of Manchester. Both hackney and private hire drivers have been affected by this. I’m losing £100 a day in fares. We all are.”

Luckvear Singh, also a Manchester cabbie, added he’d seen drivers from Rochdale, Oldham and Rossendale operating in Manchester. And Manchester cabbies’ complaints are borne out in the figures, with the number of private-hire vehicles rising from just five to 367 in Rossendale in four years.