Taxi union labels council 'hypocrites' after issuing private hire licences at a rate of five

Unite the Union Edinburgh Cab Section have launched a petition to introduce a cap on the amount of private hire licences issued by the council.

The petition, which launched on Saturday 7 September, says: 'Unite the Union Edinburgh Cab Section believe the number of Private Hire Car licenses in Edinburgh is a serious cause for concern for the City.

'City of Edinburgh Council’s hypocrisy is staggering to allow Private Hire Licences numbers to increase at a rate of 5 a day, we are now seeing an unprecedented number of almost 2500 Private hire Licences and with the current climate emergency and their upcoming Low Emission Zone, why are they allowing these cars to congest our streets. 'We hope that you will help us achieve our aim and get the Private Hire Car Licences capped, by signing our Petition you are asking the City of Edinburgh’s Sub Licensing committee to carry out an over provisioning survey with a view to cap numbers.'  

Scott Blair, the chairman of Cab section, highlighted the union's concerns about the rising congestion in the city which they believe can only be tackled effectively if private hire numbers are reduced or capped. He said: "There are at least 1,800 cars added to the streets of Edinburgh which is a huge amount when we are already have over-congestion. "We do want a cap but we are not asking the council to set a cap at whatever level we want, it has to be independent but we do want it looked at. The council are wanting to clean up the air and we want to help them with that as well. "It is for our health benefit to keep emissions down as well. The streets are our office." 

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