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YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Issue 325 June 2014
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INSIDE
Exclusive: Call for independent probe into Knowsley’s Taxi Licensing Department as Council respond to alligations
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‘FARE’ DEAL OVER TAXIS The owners of eight private hire and taxi firms operating over 1,100 licensed vehicles between them have joined forces to call for an independent investigation into Knowsley Council’s taxi licensing department.
They have urged Secretary of State for communities and local government Eric Pickles to intervene by ordering an investigation which Knowsley Council said that they would support this process. It follows a court case in Liverpool when magistrates overturned a decision by the council to revoke a taxi driver’s licence held by Liam Sweeney of Acorn Cars. Making their decision the magistrates were publicly critical of three of Knowsley Council’s officers, one of whom had embarked on covert surveillance by making a tape recording without authority of a conversation. That aspect of the case is now being investigated by HM Government’s official surveillance commissioner. It has now transpired in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers that the council overcharged vehicle proprietors and private hire operators by £163,000 over a three year period. The call for an investigation has been made by Acorn Cars, Alpha Cars, Britannia Cars, All Black Cabs, KTS, J.M. Travel, Jay Donergan and Keven Doyle.
Liam Sweeney of Acorn Cars
Three of the operators, Acorn, J.M Travel and Alpha, say the relationship between their businesses and Knowsley Council forced them to switch their bases to neighbouring Liverpool where they enjoy good relationships with city licensing officers. A Knowsley Council spokesperson said, “The Council is surprised to hear that a number of taxi firms have joined forces with Acorn Cars, particularly since the Council has recently successfully prosecuted Acorn Cars for illegally
operating in Knowsley after receiving numerous complaints from residents, drivers and other taxi firms who were being disadvantaged by the actions of Acorn Cars. “The figure of £163,000 quoted in relation to income raised by the Council through overcharging vehicle proprietors and private hire operators is completely unrelated to this particular case, but is also inaccurate and misleading – the net figure was in fact £61,000 over a four-year period and the surplus has already been reduced to £31,000 by reducing licensing fees. “Robust annual monitoring arrangements and policies are in place to manage this process. The Council’s accounting practices in relation to licensing fees was subject to in-depth internal review when the matter was first raised in 2010 followed by an independent review and approval by the Council’s external auditors. The Council has put in place steps to make the necessary restitution where fees have been over or under recovered. “The taxi firm operators making the call for a probe jointly say the experience of Acorn Cars exposes what they all consider to be a problematic relationship with taxi licensing officers at Knowsley.” Liam Sweeney said: “What happened to me is not untypical in Knowsley. The
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