New private hire car licences rejected as council look to reduce cabs in Glasgow

Dan Cars of Clydebank had its four applications to licence private hire cars in the city, refused by Glasgow City Council’s licensing committee on Thursday.

Members said the applications did not comply with the terms and conditions of the new overprovision rules and regulations which states there are too many private hires operating in the city.

The council said the company failed to demonstrate that there was no longer a need for an over provision policy and that the targets had already been met.

Glasgow City Council was the first in Scotland to introduce a cap on private hire car and taxi licenses in April this year.

There is now a limit on the number of licensed vehicles on the road but not the number of drivers.

A survey carried out by Local Transport Projects on behalf of the local authority found that between 2008 to 2013 the number of private hires across the city reduced from 2805 to 2638 but had risen to 3759 by 2018 meaning there are an extra 800 cars on the road.

In April the number of taxis on Glasgow’s streets was already limited to 1420.

The study also showed that during weekdays only 60 percent of private hires were in use, but 90 percent of cars were needed on Friday and Saturday nights.

Throughout the consultation researchers engaged with private hire and taxi firms, Glasgow Association of Mental Health and the general public. They found that taxi companies seemed to have a better reputation.

Despite concerns that people may be waiting longer for a cab during peak time members of the licensing committee agreed to restrict the number of taxis on the road.

As a result, they introduced an upper limit of 1420 and a lower limit of 1278 taxis. They also agreed an upper limit of 3759 and lower limit of 3383 for private hire cars.

The licensing committee deals with licence applications on a weekly basis but now has to make tough decisions in order to meet these targets.