External signage on private hire vehicles in London would lead to a leap in illegal hiring.
That is the view of the influential London Taxi Board which was asked to submit its thoughts as part of a far-reaching consultation by the Public Carriage office on whether private hire vehicles (PHVs) should be able to carry external signs.
Councils across the UK are being called on to outlaw the licensing of rear-loading vehicles as wheelchair-accessible taxis.
Both the Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance (SATA) and the National Taxi
Association, which covers the whole of the UK, have written to licensing officers saying only side-loading vehicles should get taxi licences because they are safer for passengers, particularly those using wheelchairs.
Oxford: A taxi driver was left with a broken nose and bruising after being kidnapped by a passenger. A man got into the cab and pulled a knife, forcing the driver to go to an address in the Botley area of the city before kicking and punching the 22-year-old cabbie and fleeing on foot.
Chippenham: An armed robber got away with just £3 after kidnapping a taxi driver at gunpoint. He forced the 58-year-old cabbie to drive into the countryside before ordering him out and driving off in car, which was later found
abandoned nearby.
Rear-loading taxis should be banned from carrying wheelchair users in a bid to improve safety for passengers.
That’s the view of actress Kim Tserkezie, star of BBC children’s programme Balamory, who suffered a fractured knee, pulled ligaments and severe cuts and bruises after being thrown out of her wheelchair onto the floor when the taxi she was travelling in stopped suddenly.
Taxi drivers should be given more training on how to help wheelchair users get safely in and out of their cabs, Kim believes.
The actress uses taxis and private hire vehicles to get around on a daily basis, witnessing both the good and the bad habits of drivers when dealing with a passenger who is a wheelchair user.
Influential MP Ann Winterton is also opposing the move to allow commercial signs on the outside of minicabs.
Speaking to Taxiwise’s newsletter, the Conservative member for Congleton said:
Taxiwise is calling for a national standard governing what signs taxis and private hire vehicles can display.
Currently, individual councils adopt their own rules leading to vastly different approaches in different areas.