Shropshire taxi firms fear 216% hike in licensing fees
Controversial plans to hike the cost of a variety of licensing fees on Shropshire taxi drivers by as much as 216 per cent are to be determined by councillors later this week.
Shropshire Council is looking to make a series of major changes to its fees and charges for black cabs and other private hire vehicles.
The new pricing policies are to be debated by the council's Licensing and Safety Sub Committee at Shirehall on Thursday.
It is proposed the changes would come into force from December 2.
The highest percentage increase would see the cost of transferring an existing black cab licence to a new vehicle rise by 216 per cent from £27.50 to £87.
The same type of transfer for private hire vehicles would go up by 123 per cent from £43.50 to £97.
The cost of renewing a driver's badge every three years will also rise by 15 per cent from £136 to £156. Getting a first-year badge for new drivers, which covers a DVLA check, a first knowledge test and a first driver training assessment, is also due to go up by 23 per cent from £166 to £204.
Resitting the driver's knowledge test is also due to increase from £62 to £77, a 24 per cent increase.
But the price of replacing a driver badge that has been damaged or lost will be slightly reduced from £12 to £10.
A report going to councillors said some of the planned increases had been altered following a period of consultation and objections from taxi drivers.
It said the original plans would have seen the cost of the driver's badge three-year renewal would cost £172, but this has now been reduced to £156 – a 15 per cent increase in cost rather than the 26 per cent that had been planned.
The report added: "There is the suggestion, in several of the objections, that the council has made a profit out of taxi licensing in recent years.
"Officers are of the opinion that the financial analysis that has been undertaken is sufficiently robust to demonstrate that this is not the case based on the information available."
