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Isle of Wight taxi drivers could charge £5 fuel surcharge as council opens fare consultation
Isle of Wight taxi drivers could be allowed to add fuel surcharges of up to £5 to some passenger fares under proposals opened for statutory consultation by the council on Friday 23 October.
The proposals follow a Licensing Committee decision on 16 October to amend the island’s hackney carriage fare structure. Any surcharge would be linked to average fuel prices and the cost of the journey.
The published schedule sets fuel price thresholds starting at £1.80 per litre, with higher charges applying as prices rise. The maximum proposed surcharge is £5 on journeys costing £50 or more when average fuel prices reach £2.50 per litre. For fares between £5.01 and £10, the proposed extra charge would be 40p at £2 per litre, rising to 80p at £2.50 per litre.
The surcharge would apply only to Tariff 1 journeys, covering travel between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Saturday. Fully electric taxis would be exempt.
Drivers would not be able to introduce the charge whenever pump prices changed. The council’s Licensing Department would decide when a surcharge could be applied and notify taxi proprietors by email. An authorised surcharge would remain in place until the council issued further instructions.
Drivers would have to record each occasion they applied the charge, with council officers conducting random compliance checks. The extra amount would be calculated using the published fare table and added at the end of the journey. Passengers would have to be told about any applicable surcharge before it was added to the fare.
The council report said the existing fare structure was approved in 2022, when average fuel prices were lower. It cited representations from the local taxi trade and said some operators were experiencing financial hardship because of higher fuel costs.
Officers’ calculations did not identify a need to raise the existing mileage rates. Instead, they recommended a flexible surcharge that could respond to fuel price increases without permanently changing the underlying tariff. The council said this approach would also avoid repeated taximeter recalibration costs if mileage rates had to be changed frequently.
The report recognised that higher fares could affect passenger affordability. It also warned that failing to address operators’ costs could undermine the viability of some taxi businesses, with possible consequences for service availability during less profitable periods and in areas with limited passenger demand.
The proposals are being considered under Section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, which governs hackney carriage fares. The consultation closes on Sunday 8 November.
If no objections are received, or any objections are withdrawn, the revised arrangements are scheduled to take effect on 1 December. Any outstanding objections would need to be considered by the council before it decides whether to implement, amend or withdraw the proposals.
