TAXI fares in Worcester are to be rise significantly this month as soaring fuel prices start to take their toll on city life.

Worcester City Council’s licensing committee has given the green light to a complicated series of fare rises proposed by local cabbies, who are struggling to cope with the rocketing price of diesel.

The average Worcester cab fare will now be about eight per cent higher than it was last month, while the cost of taking extra passengers and luggage will also increase significantly.

Drunken passengers who are sick inside a taxi will also now be charged a set valeting fee of £50 – previously there was no set fee for soiling a vehicle.

However, a further application from the Worcester Taxi Drivers’ Association to move back the point at which its members can start charging the more expensive late-night tariff from midnight to 11.30pm was rejected by the council.

The fare rise comes as local councils in Worcester revealed the devastating impact rising fuel prices are having on their own ever-tightening budgets, with County Hall warning that it is facing a £1 million overrun.

Taxi Drivers’ Association spokesman Dave Allen told the licensing committee that fuel prices in Worcester had risen by more than a third since fares were last set in April 2007.

He said: “Diesel prices are up by 36.8 per cent. The taxi drivers are asking for an eight per cent rise in fares.”.

The committee voted unanimously to pass the proposal, with several councillors pointing out that taxi fares in Worcester remain below both the regional and national averages.

Cabinet member in charge of finance Roger Knight said: “We are well aware of the increase in fuel costs and the need to recover that.”

The fare rise means a taxi meter in Worcester will now start at £2.90 instead of £2.70, and the distance the taxi will have to drive before the fare starts rising further will shorten from 1.4km (0.8 miles) to 1.2km (0.7 miles). The meter will then clock up a further 20p every 201 metres (219 yards), instead of every 215 metres (235 yards) as before.

Other changes will see the cost of each item of luggage doubled from 10p to 20p (up to a maximum of £1), and the charge for extra passengers changing from 10p for every passenger in excess of two, to 50 for every passenger in excess of three.

But a request to allow cabbies to charge ‘time-and-a-half’ fares at 11.30pm instead of at midnight was thrown out by the committee, with members saying there was no justification for it.

Committee chairman David Clark said: “I feel that The public perceive the cut-off point for fares going up has always been midnight. If we change that it’s going to cause confusion.”

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/3194474.Taxi_fares_to_rise_by_8_per_cent/