Politicians have given the go-ahead to an action plan designed to improve the service offered by taxis in Watford.
The 11-point plan, which includes refresher training courses, a requirement for drivers to issue receipts and a review of taxi ranks, was agreed at a meeting of the borough council’s licensing committee on Monday.
One of the points discussed at the meeting was to introduce an upper age limit for hackney carriages to improve the quality of the fleet. Politicians decided to apply an age limit of 13 years for cars and 20 years for traditional London style black cabs.
Jan Brown, who chaired the meeting, said: "Black cabs are made to take a lot of passengers and a lot of wear and tear."
Another of the points given the go-ahead at the meeting was for a review of fares to be held at the end of the year and a follow up in 2014. When the review is completed, taxi drivers have announced that they will propose a steep increase in the minimum fare from £2.20 to £5.
Shafiq Ahmed, chairman of the Watford Hackney Carriage Association, said the rise was needed to help drivers during a time when they are struggling to earn minimum wage.
He said: "Unfortunately Watford is not like London where the taxis are moving all the time. We are only getting a job every hour or hour and a half.
"With all the increases in insurance prices and petrol costs we can’t afford not to have a £5 minimum.
"When you are in a trade that doesn’t earn the minimum wage we have got to look at a way to improve it."
