Request:
The number of hours worked by North Tyneside taxi licensing enforcement officers between the hours of 12am to 8am and 6pm until midnight for the months of November 2008,December 2008, January 2009.
Response:
| Month |
Hours 18:00 – 00:00 |
Hours 00:00 – 08:00 |
November 2008 |
40 |
- |
December 2008 |
12 |
- |
January 2009 |
24 |
- |
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
In all further correspondence please quote our reference RFI 1787.
Your request for the following information under the above legislation has now been considered:
“The number of hours worked by taxi licensing enforcement officers between the hours of 12am to 8am and 6pm until midnight for the months of November 2008,December 2008, January 2009.”
The information you asked for is attached.
I trust that this information answers your enquiry, but if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review. Please contact the Information Governance Team no later than 40 working days after the date of this letter, after which time we will consider the matter closed.
Information Governance Team
North Tyneside Council
Quadrant
The Silverlink North
Cobalt Business Park
North Tyneside
NE27 0BY
e-mail foiofficer@northtyneside.gov.uk
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
well that says to me, if i am reading this right, it is far easier to go out 18.00 till midnight, and stop a large number of hack’s parked on ranks. checking badges and cars en mass, and then saying we checked xxxx vehicles last year. then what it is to go out after midnight, and catch those who pose a real danager of no insurance, and robbing the customer, illegally plying and picking up!
pretty much the same enfocement we have had in newcastle.
i always remember mr. savage on the local news after the protests around the civic last summer, he was asked about checking taxis, he replied that newcastle licencing checked over 1000 taxis in newcastle last year. well what they should of then asked was how many were newcastle hackney carriadges, as they often on a friday start on the quayside and work there way up to the top of the town, checking the hacks for badges and lights, i would bet thats around 50 cars a pop, and then when they go to the station, thats got to be worth 50 cars every check!
and on those figures NT check around the same in the same period! shocking considering newcastle has over 2000 taxis, how many including private hire does NT have admin?
and how did you go ablut getting this?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Andy Warhol, This is a FOI request that I did and sent to the admin, as I have said before on this site, anybody can do a FOI request, you just have to make sure you follow a few simple guidelines. I might do this again and ask for a more specific breakdown of the hours worked to see how late they do work!
anybody wanting to do an FOI request to North Tyneside Council should send it to
FOI.Officer@northtyneside.gov.uk
Set it out like this
your name and address
“I would like to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000″
then the info you want (this must be specific)
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@SC,
I to did a FOI request into Planning Applications at a certain North Tyneside Address and was given at first a breakdown too, of what was granted and everything I recieved was prior to Private Hire Legislation being introduced in 1976.
This information I was given stated that only Planning Consent for a garage for the parking of Hackney Carriage Vehicles had been granted at the said address, as the address was a 1970 Hackney Carriage Proprietors home address, and when I asked for copies of the original planning application submitted I was told that their was no printer in the Planning Department, but instead I could only view the documents at the Council Department, as they had no way of copying them to send them to me and this was because they were not going to let me have copies that would prove wrong doing by Officers of the Council in allowing what was happening at this address!!!!
This was North Tyneside`s Council`s crystal clear way to make sure that the damaging information that proved without any shadow of a doubt wrong doing, as there was no Private Hire Planning Permission in place as the last Planning number was in 1970.
Good Luck SC, if you ask for a more specific breakdown, as the FOI Officer will probably fob you off with, you have the information already.
I will leave all on here guessing that address details, as I personnally will not state the address, I will just let others guess and request the same FOI and see how they get on.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@thelighthousekeeper, I reckon you are on about the gangmaster (alleged)that works in Whitley Bay? Although some would not be so harsh and just call HIM a slavedriver?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@thelighthousekeeper, complain to the
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
as they have no reason under the FOI act rules not to provide you with a copy
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@thelighthousekeeper, did you send your application into the planning department or to the FOI officer? planning are probably not up to date with the new rules
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@ horriblegingercnut
There is a wonderful political Television Programme repeated on the Yesterday Channel recently called “House of Cards” with an actor called Ian Richardson playing the lead role, who`s character had a catchphase that went!
“You may possibly think that!, but I could not possibly comment”
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Andy Warhol, roughly 800 Private Hire & 204 Hackney Carriages.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
ginger muppet only responds via a brief, who prob has 1 of his f*c*ng cheesy callenders on display, his other half if you get passed his minders cant string a sentence together,the FOI rules dont apply in north tyneside if they do its about time we all ask why !!!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@tc, The FOI act is a national law, North Tyneside Council can not opt out, they have to follow the rules set by central goverment when dealing with request, not their own
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@SC, Its just bloody anoying,its getting harder and harder and every time you go down and pay your bit theres more Berwick bandits waiting in the wings, when is the likes of mr shanks going to stop it,hes getting richer and richer and we are getting poorer and poorer.STOP IT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
Well said
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
Can someone tell me what are Bluelines intentions….????? Why do they insist on taking on more drivers when there’s very little work out there to start with. For example:- if i a applied for a job and the company were not recruiting, they would not employ me just for the sake of it so why do Blueline continue to do this????????? where is the logic Also North Tyneside Council are a laughing stock for letting this circus continue. Come on people DO THE RIGHT THING AND PUT AN END TO THIS NOW!!!!!!!!!!! even the council should stop the issue of plates
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
well said, Brain. N. Peterson!
When will North Tyne Side council put a stop this?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
true::::::::: early grave mr shanks thinks he voices opinions for the taxi trade,
THIS IS NOT THE CASE………..
MR SHANKS YOU SHOULD GO ON THE ROAD
FOR A LIVING LETS SEE HOW YOU MANAGE TO PAY YOUR BILLS……………
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
Well said Brian i would love mr Shanks to come on and explain his actions for continually taking on more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more Drivers when the work is just not there why is he doing it,come on mr Shanks come on and explain why you are making life a living hell for us hard working private hire drivers and how the once flagship firm of North Tyneside is lagging way behind firms such as Battlehill! and Silverline in the areas that made the company WALLSEND instead we are taking everyone elses crap in such esteemed zones as Elswick Benwell etc,Its not just Blueline NT Council hold your heads in shame its simple stop the issue of ph plates now, sack all work if a firm has Bandits working for them(thats Berwick).
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
North Tyneside should put a cap on the number of PH plates they issue as they do with the Hacks, it is an issue that needs addressing as well as how Blueline and other firms in the area are just killing the taxi trade.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
i dont believe any council could ‘cap’ private hire plates, maybe a taxi legal eagle could confirm, but i believe it is only hackney plates that councils are able to ‘cap’ and ph do not have this luxury in the laws.
and as for large offices taking on more drivers,,,
think of it logicly, the taxi trade has always been a trade that ‘finds a balance’, so if say mr shanks, takes on 3 non local drivers, and loses 1, is that not ‘good business’ for him?
there will always bee those who leave an office, then return when they relise that every office is doing the same.
but what the office owners ARE doing, is lowering the avearage wage that is accepted by a taxi driver, as well as the standard. those who are not happy with there earning in the trade, will either seek other employment or sign on the dole, but they WILL be replaced by another 2!
and remember, we are in times where the offices can afford to take advantage, those with mortgages will garb any offer of a job with 2 hands at the moment!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Andy Warhol, I took part in the NTC policy review a couple of years ago and we asked Alan Newton about capping PH, he said the council have no power to do so
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
To answer your question about capping Private Hire Vehicles and your belief that this cannot be done, well in relation to a Section 48 Private Hire Vehicle Licence the Council cannot refuse to test a vehicle, but there is a way to cap the vehicles operating under a Section 55 Operator Licence.
I will explain clearly for all the hard to understand Licensing Officers out there as it is very simple, when an Application for the Section 55 Operator Licence Propeitor is submitted there is a system in place that asks the question how many vehicles to you intend to operate from the Operational Trading Address and this information should be passed to the Highways Department for assessment of the Traffic Problems any Taxi or Private Hire Operation would cause that could affect the neigbourhood area with PARKING of the vehicles being a major part of the assessment and a report being submitted to the Planning Department for their Planning Officer along with the Highways Officer visiting the Proposed Address and assessing the PARKING SPACES AVAILABLE and this then restricts the number of Private Hire Vehicles that can OPERATE from the Address should the Application for a Section 55 Operator Licence be approved.
These Guideline Rules are the same as the Guideline Rules the North East of England Traffic Commisioner uses to regulate the LGV Industry and the PSV Industry and you only have to look at the large depots those Operations must have to be able to park all the vehicles they operate, but unfortunately we have useless Licensing, Highways and Planning Officers employed by Local Councils who fail in their duty to Enforce these conditions that would regulate the size of Private Hire Operations in our Area.
There is however no regulation that can cap the number of Private Hire Drivers Licensed and 2 or 3 drivers per vehicle would probably be the response if the number of Private Hire Vehicles were capped in line with Parking Conditions meaning of course the Driver would of course be an EMPLOYEE and not a Sub-Contractor resulting in the National Minimum Wage of £5.73p at present being applied plus Employer NI Contributions that would result in higher fares to the passenger as the fare charged would have to reflect the true Operational Costs incurred by the Private Hire Industry as the Owners would not want to take a drop in their revenue Profits.
I do not believe myself this will ever be Enforced I have to say!!!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
dear lighthousekeeper, good comments above, you have made some very good points. Regarding the FOI stuff you mentioned earlier, take them up on their offer to view the documents, take a camera with you and post the photos on here so we can all have a look
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade