A major Sefton taxi company has said its drivers are applying for licences from Wolverhampton because of delays of up to two years getting applications processed locally.
Sefton Council has told the LDRS that while there isn’t currently a two year wait there are some drivers who have waited two years to have applications processed. Last week, the Twitter account of Delta taxis, which is registered in Sefton, shared what appears to be a screenshot of an email from Sefton Council to an unknown account.
The subject header of the email states “Urgent. Application 9 weeks no reply.” Within the body of the email it states: “We currently have a two year waiting list for new application, Regards, taxi licensing officer.”
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Accompanying the screenshot, a tweet from @DeltaMerseyside states: “For Merseyside passengers wondering why they’ve been struggling to get taxis since lockdown ended and for drivers or wondering why Delta has been directing new applicants to Wolverhampton instead of its home authority of Sefton @seftoncouncil making job seekers wait over 2 years.”
It follows previous criticism of the council from taxi trade bodies after licencing delays were experienced following a change to the way applications were processed during the pandemic. Last year, in response Sefton Council put in place a new system aimed at improving the way applications were dealt with.
Responding to the Delta Taxis tweet a Sefton Council spokesperson told the ECHO that some taxi drivers have waited two years for their applications to be processed, although also claimed there was no longer a two year wait.
The spokesperson said: “We can confirm that there is not a two year wait on new applications. However, owing to the demand on our service and the restrictions that were necessary during the pandemic, we have a number of applications that date back to from September 2020.”
The spokesperson added that the council was “currently working through the backlog of applications received two years” with a trade meeting arranged this week “to discuss how we plan to work through the high volume of applications.”
The spokesperson added: “Our customer services teams and licensing officers have been dedicated to working with taxi drivers and firms over what has been a challenging two years for everyone.
“They have continued to support drivers ensuring all driver and vehicle licences are processed in a timely manner, and in fact in August 2022 over 80 new drivers were licenced. Further information about the application process can be found on Sefton Council’s website at www.sefton.gov.uk/taxi ”
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