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In message , at 08:31:02 on Tue, 18
Apr 2017, Neil Williams remarked:

Roland is referring to East Cambridgeshire, not Cambridge.

I bet people don't get sick there any more than anywhere else either.

.... get older...

I think we probably do.

In Cambridge there are other issues, like admission to restricted city
centre areas. So probably not an issue in East Cambs.

Enforcement is typically by camera and registration plate anyway.

Bollards, mate.
--
Roland Perry

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On 2017-04-18 07:39:42 +0000, Roland Perry said:

... get older...

I think we probably do.

You get older quicker than everywhere else in the country? Seems
unlikely. People are people, and I see no reason for any local
standard on such things. Indeed, as I said, I see no reason for local
standards on private hire cars *at all*. National licencing would work
perfectly well and would adapt much better to new services like Uber.

In Cambridge there are other issues, like admission to restricted city
centre areas. So probably not an issue in East Cambs.

Enforcement is typically by camera and registration plate anyway.

Bollards, mate.

Assuming that referred to raising bollards rather than being a
euphemism, those are done by registration number too, not car colour.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
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In message , at 10:18:38 on Tue, 18
Apr 2017, Neil Williams remarked:

... get older...
I think we probably do.

You get older quicker than everywhere else in the country? Seems
unlikely. People are people, and I see no reason for any local
standard on such things.

The Cambridge City medical requirement differs too, it goes annual at
the age of 60, with others required at 25, 30, 35 and 40, as well as
every five years from 45 onwards.

Obviously there must be a lot of suspected decrepit 25-40yr old drivers
there! Let alone 60-65 requiring an annual test nit currently required
in East Cambs.

Indeed, as I said, I see no reason for local standards on private hire
cars *at all*. National licencing would work perfectly well and would
adapt much better to new services like Uber.

Very few people would agree with you. Especially the local councils who
insist on local variations (and the cabbies who would resist anything
additional to the currently in force local requirement).

In Cambridge there are other issues, like admission to restricted city
centre areas. So probably not an issue in East Cambs.
Enforcement is typically by camera and registration plate anyway.
Bollards, mate.

Assuming that referred to raising bollards rather than being a
euphemism, those are done by registration number too, not car colour.

Nope. In Cambridge it's by transponder.
--
Roland Perry

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On 2017-04-18 10:06:00 +0000, Roland Perry said:

Nope. In Cambridge it's by transponder.

Still not car colour.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
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In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 23:05:11 on Mon, 17
Apr 2017, Neil Williams remarked:
On 2017-04-17 06:51:56 +0000, Roland Perry said:

Just seen proposals from my District Council to reform the rules,
which are in response to *local* considerations, including:
Enhancing the existing dress code.

I would consider that a commercial matter for the operator and not
something a local authority should be getting involved in for private
hire.

The licencing authority doesn't want tourists arriving at the station
to be greeted by a load of scruffs in beaten up taxis.

The train company, more likely. They control access to the station
forecourt. It's not part of the public highway.

DBS check annually rather than every three years.

A pointless and expensive waste of time. Can't they just use the
update service, which essentially gives a continuous check at a far
lower cost?

That sounds like a useful contribution to the consultation.

Driver medicals every three years. (The current system asks for a
medical on application then nothing until the age of 45. Then every
five years until the age of 65 when it switches to annual medicals.)

People don't get sick in Cambridge more than elsewhere. That is not a
local consideration at all.

It's not Cambridge, and it's not about the flu - rather degeneration
because of age, which happens everywhere.

Allowing novelty vehicles like fire engines, army vehicles and tuk
tuk rickshaws to register. [This appears to reverse a decision in
2008 that all taxis should be painted a standard colour, for easy
recognition, and has certain tensions with the dress code - surely a
novelty vehicle would really need a novelty uniform]

That's a niche case, really. Recognition of a private hire vehicle has
become moot, because almost everyone will be informed in some way of
the registration number of their allocated vehicle prior to its
arrival. Only if you telephone for one using a landline would this not
occur, which is heading dangerously towards the proverbial goats these
days.

Cambridge only got Uber a few months ago. I've just asked for a quote
to get from here to Cambridge, and Uber says £32-44 "no cars available".

The fare by regular minicab is £38 (fixed).

The further one goes, the more the fares diverge. eg To Sansted, Uber
quotes £72-£97, whereas local firms charge variously £55-£70.

In Cambridge, I gather a few hire cars are signed up to Uber but the
established firms seem to have the market pretty well sewn up. Within the
city they go by the meter.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

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In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
18:02:15 on Mon, 17 Apr 2017, remarked:

In Cambridge there are other issues, like admission to restricted city
centre areas. So probably not an issue in East Cambs.

The City cab trade never fails to point out there are more
out-of-area vehicles than City ones on the streets. I'm not sure
whether that's not merely an artefact of Panther (fleet ~500) being
based at a cheaper site near Waterbeach, just outside the City limits.

That's an artifice of Hire Car licensing law. They can benefit from slacker
regulation in South Cambs with the same operational rights in any area.
Panther has offices inside and outside the city.

Of course, despite being north of the City, that's in South Cambs!

East Cambs doesn't start until the A10 crosses the Great Ouse, north
[yes, I know!] of Chittering.

You're looking in the wrong direction. Going east from Cambridge you only
have to get to between Stow-cum-Quy and Lode to enter East Cambridgeshire.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

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In message , at 11:32:32 on Tue, 18
Apr 2017, Neil Williams remarked:

Nope. In Cambridge it's by transponder.

Still not car colour.

No-one ever claimed it was.

--
Roland Perry

Woking to Heathrow
 

In message , at 05:49:31
on Tue, 18 Apr 2017, remarked:
In Cambridge there are other issues, like admission to restricted city
centre areas. So probably not an issue in East Cambs.

The City cab trade never fails to point out there are more
out-of-area vehicles than City ones on the streets. I'm not sure
whether that's not merely an artefact of Panther (fleet ~500) being
based at a cheaper site near Waterbeach, just outside the City limits.

That's an artifice of Hire Car licensing law. They can benefit from slacker
regulation in South Cambs with the same operational rights in any area.

Ah-ha! So Neils plan for countrywide harmonised regs would scupper that
- at the risk of watering down the rules inside the City. Unless of
course the rule is set to the highest anywhere for each aspect.

Panther has offices inside and outside the city.

Of course, despite being north of the City, that's in South Cambs!

East Cambs doesn't start until the A10 crosses the Great Ouse, north
[yes, I know!] of Chittering.

You're looking in the wrong direction.

I was looking north (to Panther's depot and beyond).

Going east from Cambridge you only
have to get to between Stow-cum-Quy and Lode to enter East Cambridgeshire.

--
Roland Perry

Woking to Heathrow
 

In message , at 05:49:31
on Tue, 18 Apr 2017, remarked:
The licencing authority doesn't want tourists arriving at the station
to be greeted by a load of scruffs in beaten up taxis.

The train company, more likely. They control access to the station
forecourt. It's not part of the public highway.

No, it's the council.

In Cambridge, I gather a few hire cars are signed up to Uber but the
established firms seem to have the market pretty well sewn up. Within the
city they

The Uber ones?

go by the meter.

--
Roland Perry

Woking to Heathrow
 

In message , at 18:02:15
on Mon, 17 Apr 2017, remarked:

DBS check annually rather than every three years.

A pointless and expensive waste of time. Can't they just use the
update service, which essentially gives a continuous check at a far
lower cost?

An interesting point. Is that a case of the council not catching up with the
changes from the previous system when DBS started?

Looking closer, they say it's an "annual update", so perhaps an annual
look at the output of the "updating service".
--
Roland Perry