Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig has said she is hopeful the region will finally gain new powers over out-of-town taxis, a long-standing issue that has concerned residents.
Resident raises concerns
During a BBC Radio Manchester hot seat session on Thursday (August 13), a resident named Bob from Stretford questioned the new mayor about the issue, describing it as an 'appalling' practice. He asked: "I want to ask you about out-of-town taxis coming in from Wolverhampton and Sefton, what’s your plan to stop this appalling practice?"
Craig responded: "It’s something that’s been bothering us for a long time, we’ve all seen it loads of taxis, be it Wolverhampton or Sefton, you see them coming in from out of town. We’ve been asking the government, fighting the government for more power and a change in law, that would give us the power in Greater Manchester to have taxis that are here working in GM, licensed in GM."
Call for consistent rules
Craig emphasized the need for consistent rules on vehicle security, driver checks, and route knowledge, saying: "The reason we want that, it’s not knocking Wolverhampton, but we have to have consistent rules about security for vehicles, the checks they do for taxi drivers, and they’ve got to know the route as well, so we’re hoping over the course of the autumn that we might get a bit of change to legislation that will give us the power to be able to see it actually licensed in Greater Manchester."
Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who became Prime Minister in July, has regularly spoken out about out-of-town taxis. In January, he described government plans to reduce out-of-area taxis as 'not good enough'.
Hopes for legislative change
Craig, a former leader of Manchester council, said she spent 'a long time' speaking to Burnham about the situation and also spoke directly to Wolverhampton about the issue. She added: "I’m hopeful now that Andy is in the PM seat. This is something that isn’t just a Greater Manchester issue, everybody wants some action on this across the country, I’m hoping he’ll be able to crack on and change that law and we can be able to licence them here in GM."
She proposed a national law requiring taxis to be registered near where the driver lives, stating: "If there was a national law that set it out, saying that if you’re a taxi and you live in Manchester or you live in Trafford, then you should be registered near the place where you live. It doesn't mean that the taxi drivers on Uber can’t go and take a job in Cheshire, but if [it is] most of your businesses and where you live, you should be registered there. If the government changed the law there wouldn’t be a loophole and we’d be able to act on it."
