RISING fuel costs prompt Royal Borough taxi drivers to ask the council to double its minimum fare.

Councillors sitting on the licensing panel are to consider the borough’s hackney drivers’ request to raise the minimum fare from £3 to £6.

They also want to increase the tariff that’s used from 11pm to 6am and Bank Holidays from £4.50 to £9. Members are to also consider doubling the luggage fee to 40p.

The way that this would work is that the meter would start at £3.30 and at the end of the journey the driver will press a stop button on the meter.

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If the fare at that time is less than the proposed minimum fare it will automatically revert to £6. The drivers are also proposing “minimum fare £6.00” stickers inside the vehicle.

A petition signed by nearly 50 hackney carriage drivers says because of rising fuel costs and the cost of living crisis, they feel the current tariff of £3 is “completely unreasonable”.

The average UK cost of diesel in London in February 2020 was 128.6p per litre. In June 2022 average prices reached 190.92, an increase of 48 per cent.

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The hackney drivers wrote: “Firstly, as the majority of customers are commuters from the train station, the taxi journeys usually do not last much longer than a mile.

“Secondly, drivers wait up to an hour in a queue, before they receive a taxi fare, and to only receive an extremely low fare around the £3 region is very frustrating, which is especially heightened now with the increased cost of living.”

They also want the charge to be in line with other Berkshire local authorities and private operators, such as Uber, as the Royal Borough is one of the cheapest.

Councillors sitting on the licensing panel are to consider this proposal on Tuesday, July 5.