‘EMBARRASSING’: Gedling Borough Council must pay back £150,000 after overcharging for taxi licences

Gedling Borough Council will be forced to pay back £150,000 to taxi operators licensed in the area after an ‘embarrassing’ error made by the council was uncovered during a review.

An internal council review conducted last year prompted a further independent review by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), which discovered the council was overcharging taxi operators.

The review also found it had been undercharging drivers for their licences, which has cost the council more than £430,000.

Councillor Sam Smith, Conservative councillor for Trent Valley, said: “We need a better answer as to why this has been allowed to happen over six years.

“It has taken a taxi driver, that we as an authority licence, to bring this to our attention. That quite frankly is embarrassing.

“We are a service that we offer to those drivers and they should get it at a fair cost.”

According to the Nottingham Post, the council should have separated the accounts for drivers, vehicles and operators. However, members were informed that the council had not historically organised the accounts in this way.

Council officer Mike Hill, told the Licensing Committee: “It shows that the council has undercharged for driver licences between 2016/17 through to 2021/22, by £430,728.

“It has however overcharged for vehicle licences between 2016/17 through to 2021/22 for all but one year, which was 2017/18, in total the overcharge there is £124,186.

“The council has also overcharged for operator licences between the same period 2016/17 through to 2021/22, totalling £12,542.”

The gaffe is likely to cost the council up to £150,000 through refunds and interest paid out.