2 days ago
North Northamptonshire's taxi 'knowledge' policy changes delay
The introduction of a wider local "knowledge" test in part of Northamptonshire that taxi drivers warn could force them out of the profession has been Northamptonshire Council approved the changes, which included the scrapping of four taxi zones to create one covering the whole of the district, in implementation had already been delayed from April to September, but the Reform UK-controlled authority said it was now working towards a revised start date of 3 Harrison, the council's executive member for regulatory services, said he wanted to provide the update as "we know that this topic has been a talking point within the industry for some time".
As part of this, the council has started a consultation on its proposed "knowledge" test for drivers, similar to the famous one in London, where black cab drivers have to learn the names of all streets and best routes between new test would mean drivers would have to learn the streets in the whole of North Northamptonshire rather than choose a smaller area, based on the old district council follows the scrapping the four district councils of Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby and East Northamptonshire to form North Northamptonshire Council in a meeting earlier this year, when the changes were approved, taxi drivers claimed a new enlarged taxi zone would be unworkable because they would struggle to learn all the were also concerns raised about the need to transition to cars that were accessible for wheelchair-users by 2026, which is also included in the now-delayed policies.
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