OFT welcomes Department for Transport movement on taxis

Taxi numbers increased since OFT report

147/05 3 August 2005

A Department for Transport consultation document on taxis licensing was welcomed by the OFT today.

View the consultation document on the Department for Transport website.

Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing: Consultation on draft Best Practice Guidance sets out a best practice approach to setting quality standards for taxis and PHVs. It follows an OFT report published in November 2003 (see note), which recommended that DfT issue guidance on these issues, so that this essential protection is applied proportionately and in a consistent way across the country.

The DfT guidance covers issues, such as consideration of accessibility for all disabled users and the licensing of a range of vehicles by local authorities to ensure maximum accessibility for both taxis and private hire vehicles. Both approaches were advocated in the OFT report.

The main recommendation of the OFT report was that quantity controls imposed by local licensing authorities on taxi numbers should be lifted, so that taxi supply was free to increase to provide consumers with more choice. Following the OFT report, the Government, in response said that controls on taxi vehicles should only be applied where a specific case can be made that such controls benefit consumers. The Department for Transport wrote to all licensing authorities in May 2004 asking them to review their policy along those lines.

At the time of the OFT report around half of all UK licensing authorities applied quantity controls. Since then, many licensing authorities have lifted these controls. Today only around 30 per cent of licensing authorities still apply controls, with a large number of other authorities in the process of reviewing their current controls.

Daniel Gordon, OFT Market Studies Director, said:

'We have estimated that when quantity controls are removed the number of taxis on the street can go up by as much as 30 per cent – this is good new for consumers. We are pleased that our report has led to these restrictions being lifted, as many consumers will now have the benefit of more taxis and lower waiting times.'

NOTE

The OFT Taxi and PHV market study published in November 2003 (see press release 147/03). The Government provided its response in March 2004.

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