Member Article

Newcastle taxi firm hails court decision

Newcastle’s largest taxi operators, LA Taxis have praised the actions of Newcastle City Council following a major court case in the city.

The case involving Wallsend based Blue Line Taxis centred on the firm’s use of a telephone number historically associated with the North Tyneside licencing area being used in the Newcastle area. The Magistrates court determined that the application of conditions by the Council’s Committee when granting the licence in 2010 were lawful and a recent High Court appeal by Blue Line was dismissed, upholding this decision. Blue Line Taxis (Newcastle) chose to surrender their licence to the Council and subsequently announced the loss of a number of jobs within the firm.

Now owners at LA Taxis have offered support to the Council who they believe have done everything they can to maintain a fair competitive advantage to every taxi operator in the city

The firm’s Business Development Manager, Stephen McGuinness believes that some of the laws concerning the operation of taxis are outdated and in some cases even draconian but are there to ensure fairness amongst all from the small sole trader to the larger fleets like LA.

“There are 30 taxi operators in the city and everyone has adhered to the rules except one. With Blue Line flaunting the rules during the appeal process by operating the Newcastle fleet while using a North Tyneside telephone number, our drivers and others in the city have lost valuable trade. We welcome the Council enforcing the decision of the court,” said McGuinness.

“We have a managed growth plan which has helped the business grow but it’s all been done according to the rules and with the welfare of our drivers and customers at the heart of the matter.”

McGuinness revealed that LA Taxis were considering moving into North Tyneside themselves a number of months ago but advice from Newcastle City Council concerning the rules for cross border hiring made them take stock of their plans.

“Once we consulted the licensing team we realised that we were in breach of the rules and changed our strategy, we would have been in the same situation as Blue Line,” he said. “Clearly we feel for the self-employed drivers from Blue Line, we have taken some of them on and I understand that other operators in the city have done the same.”

Regulatory Licensing Manager, Jonathan Bryce said, “We are here to provide a reliable and safe service for the public. As an Authority, we’ve always sought to maintain a mode of operation for licensing in which all operators conform to both legal conditions and the terms and condition of the license. The Council condition sought to ensure that there was no cross border hire issue between the Newcastle and North Tyneside operation as such activity is illegal. The Council seeks to ensure a level playing field to benefit everyone’s business.”

LA Taxi’s has established itself as one of the North East’s fastest growing businesses with the largest fleet in Newcastle, a state of the art call centre and vehicles fitted with credit and debit card terminals using 3D security chip and pin technology.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Keith Newman .