Hackney Carriage taxi fares in Sefton could rise under proposals being put forward next week.
Other changes that could come in include adopting calendar controlled meters rather than the current manual adjustment by drivers, and an increase in the maximum ‘fouling’ charge from £40 to £50.
The plea is being driven by “rising inflation, running costs and significant driver shortages for hackney carriage vehicles”.
Hackney Carriage trade representatives will make their case for changes to existing tariffs at a Sefton Council Licensing Committee meeting at Southport Town hall on Monday (1st September 2025).
Proposals include:
- a new tariff 3 covering Friday & Saturday evenings (midnight to 6 am).
- change the applicable time for charging tariff 2 from 11pm – 6am to 9pm – 6am
- change the starting fares for each tariff to the following: Tariff 1 – £3.20 (currently £2.90) Tariff 2 – £4.00 (currently £3.60) Tariff 3 – £4.40 (new weekend tariff) Tariff 4 – £4.80 (currently £4.10 as tariff 3)
- Adop calendar controlled meters rather than the current manual adjustment by drivers
- increase the maximum ‘fouling’ charge from £40 to £50
A Sefton Council report said: “The last tariff increase was introduced on 11 October 2023.
“Rising inflation, running costs and significant driver shortages for hackney carriage vehicles are contributing factors that have led to this request.
“The Council currently licence 271 Hackney Carriage vehicles with 58 vehicle licences ‘on hold’ and therefore not operational with 250 Hackney Carriage drivers. The current number of working hackney carriage vehicles is therefore 213.
“The trade representatives have indicated that the requested rise is intended to offset the increases in the general cost of living over the last two years and is an attempt to ensure drivers’ net earnings do not fall below previous levels in real terms.
“Increases to local private hire fares may have also led to a loss of drivers.
“The trade have also requested that the current tariff 2 be applied at an earlier time of 9pm for all days instead of 11pm as well as introducing a tariff 3 weekend rate to encourage drivers to operate during weekend late night hours. This is to encourage drivers to better service the later times surrounding the night-time economy by increased usage of the current Hackney Carriage fleet at the weekends.
“This will also help owner drivers service and maintain and renew the current fleet of vehicles. “There are no proposals to alter the distance meter drop distances. The introduction of calendar controlled meters allows for tariff programming with automatic switching between the tariffs to ensure the correct charges are applied at all times. It is hoped the revised tariffs will maintain the current number of vehicles available as well as retaining and attracting new drivers and owners.
“If the recommendations are agreed and no objections are received then it is suggested that the implementation date is 14 days following subsequent publication of the proposed new fees locally.”
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