A DRIVER has expressed frustration after he and more than 40 others had their private hire licence bids refused due to a council policy.

Mustafa Celik is calling on Glasgow City Council (GCC) to review its overprovision policy for private hire licences after he ‘walked away with nothing’ despite paying almost £500 to apply and waiting nearly a year for the outcome.

The 42-year-old, from Rutherglen, was one of 43 drivers whose applications were refused at a meeting of the local authority’s Licensing & Regulatory Committee on October 24.

(Image: Colin Mearns)

Mustafa believes that the council should close applications when the overprovision limit of 3450 licences is met and that a waiting list or similar system should be introduced for those who have had theirs refused.

Mustafa said: “I applied for the licence in November 2023 and it says online that your application won’t be lodged until the council gets your payment of £483.

“I didn’t receive a receipt of the payment so I had to email in February to ask for one. They [the council] then sent me one and said that my application had finally been lodged, 12 weeks later.

“I later got an email to say my application had been refused but that a committee would decide on it in October.

“I knew one of the guys at the meeting and he told me ‘I think they are going to refuse them because last week there were another 40 to 45 people here and they refused all of them’.

“We stood up one by one and were asked to say anything to support our applications. I told them I needed the flexibility for my family.

“I have two young kids and my wife works. I applied for the licence because it would mean I don’t have to rent a taxi from a company, I could use my own car.

“They went away for 20 minutes and then called all of our names out to say the applications had been refused, they didn’t even issue one on that day.

“If you want to apply again you have to wait for a year and that doesn’t even guarantee you anything.

“I feel terrible.”

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It is understood that as of May 2024, the limit of 3450 licensed private hire cars in Glasgow had been reached.

At this point, it is presumed unless proven otherwise that further private hire licenses should not be granted as there will be an overprovision of the service.

Applicants are able to give evidence that there has been a change in demand for private hire cars in Glasgow from the last time the policy was updated or if they feel they should be an exception but it is up to the licensing committee to decide on this.

In Mustafa’s case – and the other drivers on October 24 - the committee ‘were not convinced any representations made rebutted the presumption against granting a licence’.

(Image: Colin Mearns)

At present applications are considered in chronological order and if a license becomes available it is given to the person with the earliest application still waiting to be decided.

Despite the overprovision figure being reached in May the online application system is said to have remained open.

Mustafa claims that whilst drivers are directed to the council’s overprovision policy when applying there is no indication as to whether or not the limit has been met already.

The father-of-two feels this is “very wrong”.

He added: “They keep the applications open, take the money, and don’t refund you if it is refused.

"Okay, they do say they don’t refund on the website but I believe they should at least keep us in a queue in case the numbers change.

“They should let us know these things. We can appeal but if you hire a lawyer that costs more money so somebody like me can’t do that.

“It was a huge investment to go down this route and I won’t be applying again. I can’t afford to lose another £500.

“I walked away with nothing, I just find it to be very wrong.”

A GCC spokesperson said: “The overprovision policy for private hire cars was renewed in April 2023 following an independent assessment of demand for private hire cars in Glasgow. 

“All licensing decisions are based on the merits of the individual case and within the context of our licensing policies. 

“The overprovision policy for private hire cars is currently reviewed every two years and as part of this process, work to understand the demand for private hire cars is undertaken by an independent transport expert.”