Mayor ‘confident’ taxis from Wolverhampton will be BANNED from Greater Manchester

Taxis licensed by Wolverhampton council could be BANNED from working in Greater Manchester with a proposed law change.

Taxis licensed by Wolverhampton council could be BANNED from working in Greater Manchester with a proposed law change.

That’s according to mayor Andy Burnham, who is ‘confident’ more regulation will be brought in to curb the practice of ‘out-of-area working’. Wolverhampton council has licensed 8,952 cab drivers in Greater Manchester, according to a LDRS investigation.

It’s thought drivers choose to apply to Wolverhampton council because it’s a regarded as an easier, quicker and cheaper licensing regime. The Midlands council denies this.

However, the practice has left other cabbies feeling angry, with some drivers infuriated by the fact they have to compete with drivers who have ‘shopped around to get a licence under a less stringent regime’.

Since the LDRS published its investigation, rumours have swirled that Wolverhampton council-licensed taxis will be banned from working in Greater Manchester, said one caller to BBC Radio Manchester’s In The Hotseat programme.

The caller, Les, asked the mayor if those rumour were true. He replied: “It’s not true, I’m afraid. I wish it was true.

“We want the law to be changed as quickly as possible to stop out-of-area working. We do not have that power at the moment.

“We have had Wolverhampton enforcement staff to do spot-checks because we are saying to them, as a council, ‘why are you doing this and where are you?’

“I think that’s forced them to be more present in our area. We are hoping we will get [the power] in the English Devolution Bill. I am confident it’s coming, the ban on out-of-area working.”

Before the election, the mayor said he had ‘a firm commitment’ from then shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh ‘that out of area working will be stopped under a Labour government’.