A council will look into a temporary restriction on issuing hackney carriage licences that it has had in place for more than 10 years. Cardiff Council's public protection committee voted to launch a consultation over the possible removal of the authority's moratorium on issuing new hackney carriage licences.
Cardiff Council is the only local authority in Wales, and one of a few in the UK, to have such a moratorium in place. The council's licensing department has received a number of complaints from passengers who have been unable to get hackney carriages.
It has also seen an increase in reports of hackney carriage drivers cherry-picking and refusing short fares. There is also the issue of the current moratorium, which has been in place at Cardiff Council since 2010, restricting new entrants into the hackney carriage trade unless they are able to purchase a hackney carriage vehicle already licensed in Cardiff and transfer it into their name.
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This has created a a secondary market in Cardiff for hackney carriage licences and makes it difficult for those wishing to start a career as a self-employed driver to do so due to high costs. A report that was presented to the council's public protection committee revealed that 220 of the current 946 hackney carriage licences are currently on hold.
This means there are 726 hackney carriages that are actively licensed in Cardiff. As well as seeing more complaints from passengers the council's licensing department also found that the number of vehicle licences not being actively used has increased in recent years. In 2019 Cardiff Council commissioned an independent survey of Cardiff’s taxi demand.
The survey recommended that there was no significant unmet demand and as a result the moratorium was kept. However with the current issues raised by the licensing department and the perceived potential benefits of new drivers being able to put a deposit down on a modern vehicle, instead of having to purchase a hackney carriage vehicle above the market value, the matter has been brought back for review.
Once the consultation has been completed a further report will be brought back to the council for consideration.
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