Michael Ring
Question:381 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be refunded the costs of transferring a taxi licence from a previous holder to himself. [11355/01]
Written Answers - Taxi Licences.
In introducing the new taxi licensing regime, the Government undertook to address, as a mitigating measure, the question of high fees paid, under earlier arrangements, to certain local authorities for the grant of taxi and wheelchair accessible taxi licences. Instructions were subsequently issued to licensing authorities by my Department in February, 2001, for the refund of certain taxi and wheelchair accessible taxi licence fees on the basis of the difference between the default fees specified in the Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1995 – £3,000 for an ordinary taxi licence, £100 for a wheelchair accessible taxi licence – and any higher fee received by a licensing authority prior to 21 November 2000. This measure is designed particularly to benefit holders of wheelchair accessible taxi licences which account for the great majority of taxi licences issued between 1995 and 2000.
The Government's undertaking in relation to mitigation did not extend to fees paid for the transfer of taxi licences and no retrospective measures are envisaged in this regard.