Stamford taxi drivers join South Kesteven District Council’s calls to stop unlicensed firms

Taxi drivers say that taxis licensed outside South Kesteven are leaving them with ‘less and less business’.

South Kesteven District Council’s licencing committee said that many taxi drivers were licensed in other areas and were not following its safety recommendations.

SKDC’s licensing committee heard that Wolverhampton-licensed vehicles were operating in South Kesteven.

This has led to SKDC council leader, Coun Ashley Baxter (Ind) to write to Local Transport Minister Simon Lightwood, calling on the Government to remove a loophole which allows drivers to avoid SKDC standards by operating under licence from areas which may have lower standards.

Taxi drivers in Stamford have said this has caused ‘unfair’ competition to them and is impacting their businesses.

Skyline taxi driver, Mujahid Iqbal, said: “It’s really bad for us. Every day big taxi firms come in and I’m getting fewer journeys because of it.

“Most people are using Uber instead of my business.”

Local taxi driver, Mahbub Alan Bahlul said he was worried about the safety of the town at the weekends.

He said: “They’re parking everywhere and taking jobs. It’s impacting me personally and is meaning that fewer people are choosing to book with me.

“I’ve lived in Stamford for more than 23 years. In the last few months I’ve seen some taxi drivers who just park anywhere. It’s a really big issue and isn’t fair.”

Another Stamford taxi driver, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s not fair. There are Uber drivers coming in from Peterborough, lurking around the area and taking up our business.”

Another taxi driver said that it was unfair that big taxi forms are allowed to go wherever they want.

Taxi driver, Naveed Mehmood, said: “The firms are coming from everywhere. We’re working in South Kesteven and we’re required by the council to stay in the area.”

“The bigger firms can go anywhere but we have to stay here. I think the council should look at that.”

Coun Baxter said: “Unfortunately, South Kesteven is suffering a deluge of vehicles licensed by other local authorities. This is having a detrimental effect on local drivers and operators.

“In response to requests from our elected members and officers, I am pushing for anomalies and loopholes to be resolved in the interests of the livelihoods of our hard-working taxi-drivers and operators as well as the safety of passengers.

“I have written to the Under-Secretary to request that either the cross-border licensing loophole is closed, or that a national statutory policy or legislation is considered to enable the provision of safe, accessible, available, and affordable services that meet the wide range of passenger needs by a thriving trade by all licensing authorities.”