NEW WAV TARIFF: Taxi drivers in Chelmsford want to raise fares after fuel price hikes

Taxi drivers in Chelmsford are calling for the council to increase fares to help drivers and maintain its fleet of wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) as fuel costs rise.

Taxi representatives have tabled a petition to Chelmsford CIty Council expressing their concerns and proposing a new tariff based around the number of people travelling in the cab.

The taxi fleet’s WAV vehicles, which are able to hold more passengers than saloon style cars, have dropped in numbers due largely to the higher purchase price associated with them.

Officials have asked the council to consider keeping the current tariff when up to four passengers are travelling, but to encourage others to buy WAV taxis, increase the fare by 50% when five or six passengers are onboard.

According to Essex Live, a petition to the council said: “To ensure local authorities have the appropriate number of taxis on the circuit and enough provision of wheelchair accessible vehicles we need to find a solution to funding. It is quite clear that license holders are feeling the pinch when licensing an MS/WAV.

"In the past couple of years, 30 vehicles in Chelmsford have been lost with vehicle licences (plates) being handed back. It’s no coincidence that all the plates that were handed back were wheelchair access vehicles. Not one single saloon suffered. In hard times [for] many, they are not financially viable.

"Currently the way all tariffs work throughout the UK is that the more passengers that travel, the cheaper each individual passenger would effectively pay.

"We would like to propose that an additional tariff be introduced, whereby if five or six passengers travel in an MS/WAV that the fare be increased by 50 per cent. If the vehicle was used for one to four passengers the fare tariff would remain the same.”