The city council’s licensing committee has deferred until June a decision on whether taxi drivers should charge fares up front.
Members of the committee unanimously agreed the deferral, despite council solicitor Brian Woodcock pointing out that a compromise deposit system moved by convener Rod Wallace would merely be formalising existing legal policy.
An objection had earlier been heard from Dundee Hackney Association chairman Erik Thoresen, who said he welcomed a police report which showed a fall in the number of taxi frauds from 62 two years ago to 45 in the past year.
He said it would be good for taxi drivers if the council and police issued a statement reminding customers that it is illegal not to pay their fare.
”I have been saying for a long time that it is a matter of choice. Any taxi driver will tell you that you can see undesirables coming and you have the choice whether to take them or not.”
He said charging people up front would result in people going between cars asking what they would charge.
He said one of his regular customers was TV star Lorraine Kelly. He said: ”I’m certainly not going to say to her: ‘Can I have a tenner before we start?”’
Mr Woodcock said the council would not support charging passengers before the journey being made mandatory and suggested introducing the words: ”At the discretion of the driver you may be asked for a deposit” on taxi cards which are already displayed inside cabs would be a workable policy.
”It’s just restating what the legal position is already,” he said. ”It just gives the public advance notices that they may be charged a deposit.”
He said he believed Dundee is the first local authority in Scotland to consider going down this route but quoted the reactions by Reading Borourgh Council and Thames Valley Police to similar suggestions as being ”too confrontational”.
Mr Wallace suggested accepting Mr Woodcock’s recommendation and review it in six months to see what, if any, problems had been experienced. Tom Ferguson moved a deferral of six months to gain more information from taxi operators and the police, as he said a large number of taxi frauds go unreported.
He added: ”We need to take care that any action we take doesn’t mean we are regarded as Dundee, City of Dishonesty.”
Mr Wallace agreed and moved the matter be deferred for further information to be brought before the committee in June.