Victory in sight

OLDHAM Council says victory is in sight for its campaign to make private hire vehicles exempt from the congestion charge.

Chief executives of the 10 Greater Manchester councils have been briefed on the final proposals and backed the view that both hackney and private-hire taxis should not have to pay.

A full meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) takes place on Friday and is expected to support the move.

A referendum takes place next month on the proposed £3billion Transport Innovation Fund (TIF).

Oldham Council Leader Howard Sykes made strong representations on behalf of the borough’s taxi trade to ensure they would not have to pay to cross either of the planned inner or outer charging rings.

Deputy Leader Jackie Stanton said she was delighted with the decision at the meeting.

She said: “Both Councillor Sykes and myself have been made aware of the concerns expressed by taxi operators about the proposed charge.

“We have a large number of private hire taxis in Oldham — over a thousand — and we felt drivers of those vehicles should be exempt, along with drivers of black cab hackney taxis. We listened very carefully to the views of taxi operators and drivers and agreed it would be unfair to expect them to pay.

“We then made very strong representations to AGMA about the taxi trade in Oldham and thankfully it looks like our efforts will pay off.

“In our view it would be unfair to expect private hire drivers to pay the charge when after all they are performing an important transport duty.

“Public transport vehicles will not pay, so the same rule should apply to passengers who need to use taxis.”

She added: “The TIF would represent the biggest-ever spending programme on public transport in our borough. For that reason I believe we should read the literature that will accompany the voting paper and participate in the electoral process.”