Plans to tighten licensing laws for taxis and private hire cars have been welcomed by the Dundee Taxi Driver Association and Dundee City Council.
The Scottish Government has been consulting on proposals it hopes will make the system fairer for drivers and safer for the public by increasing enforcement and reducing criminality in the trade.
One of the changes proposed is to bring private hire cars, which are only licensed to take on pre-booked jobs, closer to taxis, which are able to pick up from taxi ranks and be flagged down in the street.
The Government wants to give local authorities the power to restrict the number of private hires as well as require drivers to undergo training, something which the council and local taxi association are in agreement on.
Graeme Stephen, chairman of Dundee Taxi Association, said at the moment there is a lot of illegal trading and changes are needed.
He said where the council limits taxi numbers private hire cars can flood the market making it easier for criminality to take place.
He said: “The changes will address a lot of our concerns but there are still some issues.
“The main concern about the current system is the variation in enforcement across the country’s local councils.”
Another point the council and taxi association agree on is that enforcement of the licensing laws should be given over to the police, something Mr Stephen said was “long overdue”.
He added: “Currently taxis work 24/7 so drivers on the back shift can do anything they like because there is no one enforcing it.”
In terms of training, Dundee City Council is looking into further training beyond the required street knowledge test for taxi drivers which could include customer care, health and safety, as well as disability awareness.
Dundee Taxi Association said in addition it would like training in how to deal with difficult passengers as well as more safety checks on vehicles.
Also included in the Government’s proposals is the removal of licensing exceptions for contract hires as well as an extension of booking office orders to include companies with less than three cars and no specific office.
These changes are expected to make it more difficult for criminal activity to escape a layer of licensing enforcement by splitting fleets.
All Scottish local authorities, taxi associations, MSPs and other experts were consulted on the plans and the responses have now been made public and the Scottish Government aims to publish a report into the findings this spring.