Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Robin Currie, George Freeman, David Kinniburgh, Roderick McCuish and Jean Moffat.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Head of Governance and Law

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  The Head of Governance and Law then outlined the procedure that would be followed.

Professor Black intimated  that he did not accept the procedure that was being followed and this was noted.

The Chair invited the Applicant to speak in support of his application.

APPLICANT

Mr Haddow referred to everyone knowing that TOA had recently taken over Trident Taxis.  He advised that in their opinion Helensburgh did not have enough wheelchair accessible taxis as there were only 2 covering the area.  He said that one Operator only worked Saturdays and the other Operator was changing his car so that from this point tomorrow there would only be one car which was not contactable as the Operator did not work out of an office.  He said that he would like to put a wheelchair accessible vehicle on the road, which he had already purchased.  He referred to a number of care homes and Dr surgery appointments and said that he believed that once it was known there was a wheelchair accessible taxi available 24/7 there would be an increase in demand for it and that he may well be back in 6 months or a year to ask for another plate for a wheelchair accessible vehicle.  He advised it was his personal point of view that just now there was definitely a demand for a wheelchair accessible taxi for the Helensburgh area.

QUESTIONS FROM OBJECTOR

Professor Black referred to Mr Haddow’s comment “as everyone will know”.  He questioned how everyone knew as the matter had not been reported in the Helensburgh Advertiser.  He advised that when you phone up Trident Taxis the controller advises that you are through to TOA.  Mr Haddow explained that the employees in their office have been working for TOA for years and that this was just a mistake as they have always been used to answering the phone in this way.

OBJECTOR

Professor Black advised that everyone would know that Trident Taxis was sold for an undisclosed sum to Mr Berry and his company.  He advised that Trident Taxis was formally owned by Councillor Ellen Morton.  He referred to having a scientific background and that he was used to reading and analysing scientific data.  He suggested to the Members of the Committee that they all lacked the same sort of skills as it was suggested at a previous hearing that as the number of taxis in Helensburgh and Lomond in 2013 was 55 that it would be okay to return to this number.  He advised that the Halcrow report published at that time had indicated that 55 taxis was too much.  He suggested that 45 would be more accurate and pointed out that the Committee had granted another Taxi Operator Licence today at an earlier hearing.

Professor Black said that the Council was in default as the Halcrow report was published in 2013 and the Council had no current data to make their decisions.  He pointed out that Council Douglas had indicated that she did not use taxis and he queried how many taxis the other Members of the Committee used.  He advised that he had read the Halcrow report 3 times and said that it was a piece of nonsense which the Council paid £10,000 for. 

Professor Black then read out his critique of the Halcrow report which, he advised, referred to an excess in supply of taxis.  He said that he agreed something should be done about making wheelchair accessible taxis available but at this moment this was not a statutory requirement.  He said that he thought it should be mandatory but it was not. He referred to the definition of significant unmet demand an explained the use of queue theory.  He also referred to the seasonal factor and pointed out that the survey had been carried out one week in November and did not take account of what happened during the summer months in this seaside town.  He advised that the Helensburgh taxi drivers were earning less than the minimum wage.  He pointed out misspellings of street names and villages in the report.  He advised that it was his opinion that the owner of TOA was operating illegally.

He advised that the stance figures in the report did not make sense and said that there was no data to support the outcome of the survey.  He advised that there were more taxis sitting at the rank doing nothing which was environmentally damaging and reducing the wages of taxi drivers.  He said that the Committee issuing more plates was making it worse.  He said that the conclusion of the survey was wrong.  He referred to an Operator who was recently granted a licence for Kilcreggan and advised that he was not working in Kilcreggan, he was working from the rank in Helensburgh.  He advised that in conclusion there were too many taxis in Helensburgh.  He then invited his Agent to provide further information to support the objection he had lodged.

Mr Scott advised that he has worked in the Helensburgh area for 12 years.  He said that one Saturday night there were 48 taxis out in Helensburgh and that taxis were sitting on the rank for up to 1.5 hours without a hire and that the situation was getting worse.  He said that he was getting worried as taxi drivers were struggling to make a living.  He referred to Trident Taxis being sold to TOA and advised that he was getting upset listening to all that was being said.  He pointed out that the Council were ploughing ahead granting plate after plate.  He advised that TOA were coming into the Helensburgh area, sitting on the Helensburgh ranks with West Dunbartonshire plates which was leading to confrontation with his company.  He advised that Trident Taxis was not offered to local taxi drivers and that they had been unaware of the situation.  He said that TOA were coming into the area sending  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.