Glasgow taxis lose appeal
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GLASGOW taxi drivers have lost an appeal against the Scottish Traffic Commissioners' decision to grant Strathclyde PTE four road service licences for Microbus services. The licences did not specify defined routes between fixed termini or follow precise timetables.
The Glasgow Hackney Carriage Trades Association and Clydebank Taxi Owners' Association Radio System had questioned the Commissioners' competence to issue such a licence.
They suggested that the nature of the service would lead to problems for the public and were not in the public interest.
The taxi drivers also argued that the services, which used tax rebated fuel and accepted concessionary fares passes, provided them with "unfair" competition.
In the light of the precedent set by the Vulcancrown case in London, which allowed the granting of road service licences to various airports from any point in Greater London, Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley decided that the Commissioners had been competent to grant the licence.
He agreed with both the Commissioners and his inspector that there were adequate assurances available coverinc the safety of the services anc that services sought by un. conventional means to improve public transport provision bene fit the public.