Wolverhampton taxi fares frozen

Taxi bosses agreed that in the current economic climate it was not appropriate to increase fares.

They last rose in 2013 after being frozen for four years.

From 6am to 11pm Monday to Saturday the initial fare will remain at £2.80.

Every mile thereafter costs £1.60.

From 11pm to 6am Sunday to Thursday the base rate is £3.50, again going up £1.60 for every mile travelled.

At these times from Friday to Sunday the rate per mile jumps to £2.20.

Rates on Christmas Eve from 6pm onwards, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and New Year's Eve are one-and-a-half times the usual day rates.

A report which goes before Wolverhampton City Council's licensing committee next Wednesday (25) states: "The increase of 2013 was the first increase in fares since 2009.

"The licensing committee requested that the issue of hackney carriage fares be reviewed annually through the Hackney Carriage Working Group.

"Both the Taxi Owners Association (Wolverhampton) Ltd and the Wolverhampton Hackney Carriage Drivers Association agreed that given the current economic climate, they did not wish for the council to pursue an increase in fares at this time.

"This was despite both associations acknowledging that their own costs had increased in the last 12 months, primarily due to increases in fuel costs."

Taxi bosses were recently embroiled in a fierce row with the local authority over the number of taxis in Wolverhampton.

There are 174 Hackney Carriages licensed to trade in the city but only 60 rank spaces, with drivers wanting a cap to help safeguard jobs.

Go-slow protests and a demonstration outside the Civic Centre were planned by drivers who were also furious with plans to allow six-year-old vehicles to join the city's taxi fleet.

But that plan was shelved, with the four year limit kept in place for now.

And council bosses ended the possibility of a strike by agreeing to an independent review of the amount of taxis in the city.