Hope the meter's not running!

I would contradict what Mr Hodgson implies that I wasn't defending the indefensible, simply answering to criticism of an industry in which I am very much involved. As regard to a personal attack on him, it was he who tried to degenerate the private hire trade. As secretary of the local Private Hire Association, I felt obliged to answer the accusations he implied. If he assumes that anything he has printed can go without objections, I'm afraid he is mistaken.

Mr Hodgson states he has worked in our line of work for eighteen years, I was in the business ten years before he got his badge. The reason for the number of private hire vehicles in this area isn't as Mr Hodgson implies, it's simply that we offer such excellent service. Deregulation in the number of hackney licenses would mean that a lot of private hire owners could afford to run hackney vehicles, and indeed a lot of hackney drivers could afford to run their own vehicles instead of driving for other owners. Again Mr Hodgson infers that all vehicles will shortly have to conform with the Disability Discrimination Act, this has been on the cards for some time and the council have made this point when it issued more hackney licenses.

In Barrow where the private hire vehicles greatly outnumber the hackneys, they deregulated. In our area the council wasn't compelled to undertake a survey to prove an unmet demand for taxis as Mr Hodgson states. The hackney owners funded the survey themselves. I made applications for ten hackney licenses which is my legal right. If my applications upset the apple cart, so what, I didn't do anything illegal. Others jumped on the bandwagon and were awarded plates. Good luck to them. Did you make applications, Mr Hodgson?

Again Mr Hodgson refers to charges by private hire vehicles, because private hire charges aren't regulated they can charge what they want. Our companies, as with others, use taxi meters set at the same rates as the Council stipulate. This isn't illegal. and if Mr. Hodgson has spent time as a private hire driver as he states, he should be aware of this. When Mr Hodgson questions our advert showing a 10per cent discount, this as the advert clearly states is off the meter rates set by the council. This, Mr. Hodgson, ridicules your statement as to overcharging by private hire companies. He says the increase in fares that was turned down because of objections by others in the trade. On a majority the owners would have been awarded their rise. The objection came from one D Hodgson, Sefton Road, Morecambe, on the grounds that a private hire company was charging less than the current hackney rates and you feared for the taxi businesses.

The situation regarding an increase in fares for New Year's Eve has been submitted to authorities throughout the country. To my knowledge no request has been submitted to our council by the local taxi drivers association. Again, as I pointed out earlier Mr Hodgson is not an owner, and hasn't that privilege.

Regarding the insinuation that because our 50 car fleet hasn't received any enquiries about New Years' Eve, the public has spoken about their faith in the private hire trade. I would confirm that as joint owner of the largest privately owned fleet in this area that that in itself speaks for the need for the private hire trade. This point, Mr Hodgson, isn't made by overcharging, as we've been accused, simply by providing a first class service at the right price.

That, Mr Hodgson is why I vehemently oppose anyone denigrating an industry to which I and others have devoted a lot of time and effort to build up. The private hire industry will survive both my time and your time, deregulated or not, and despite your criticism of the way you feel the council run our industry, the rules were laid down before you entered the trade. If you don't like the rules - you have a choice.

Jim Harrison

Sec. Lanc PHA

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