Further to Minute 3 of the meeting held on 13 July 2023, the Committee considered a report on the proposed increase in hackney carriage fares after an objection had been received during the statutory consultation period. The following documents were appended to the to report:

·                Appendix I - RTA Option 1 Fare Increase October 2023

·                Appendix II - Email from objector

·                Appendix III - Email to objector

·                Appendix IV - Second email to objector

At the meeting held on 13 July 2023, the Committee had considered four different options for increasing Hackney Carriage fares in Reading. Two options had been put forward by the Reading Taxi Association (RTA) and another two options had been put forward by a separate group of Hackney Carriage drivers. Having considered all four of the options put forward by the trade, the Committee had made a recommendation to proceed with Option 1, which had been put forward by the RTA. This option  decreased the yardage across all tariffs and included an increase in the Additional Passengers surcharge from 20p to 40p per each additional person up to a maximum of £2. A copy of this option was attached to the report at Appendix I.

The report explained that an objection had been received to the statutory consultation on the proposed fare increase.  The Licensing Team had invited the objector to present their objection to the Licensing Applications Committee but no response had been received to the correspondence. Copies of the Licensing Team’s emails to the objector were attached to the report at Appendix III and Appendix IV. As no other objections had been received the Committee was asked to consider the objection, as set out in Appendix II, and to make a decision on whether to proceed with or to modify the recommendation made by the Committee on 13 July 2023.

Mr Asif Rashid, Chairman of the RTA, and Mr Imran Ali, a local hackney carriage driver, were present at the meeting and spoke against the objection and in favour of the proposed hackney carriage fare increase.

Resolved:

(1)           That, in accordance with Section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, and having considered the single objection received during the statutory consultation period, along with the representations made by members the hackney carriage trade who addressed the Committee, the Assistant Director of Transport, Planning and Public Protection, be recommended to approve and implement the hackney carriage fare rise, as set out in the table of fares attached at Appendix I, as recommended by the Committee on 13 July 2023 (Minute 3 refers).

(2)           That the revised table of fares, as attached at Appendix I, be implemented by 3 October 2023, in accordance with Section 65 (4) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.