Leeds City Council has been urged to relax rules around so-called “no-go zones” in the city centre for taxis. Private hire vehicles are banned from using or picking up passengers on a number of roads before 10pm.
The zones have been phased in by the council over the last couple of years to ease traffic, as only buses and hackney carriages are allowed to use them 24 hours a day. But Labour councillor for Harehills, Arif Hussain, said he wanted the restrictions scaled back to a cut-off time of 6pm.
A senior council officer said he was willing to look at reaching a compromise. Councillor Hussain, a former taxi driver himself, told a scrutiny meeting on Wednesday: “Private hire vehicles are providing a public service to local residents after the bus services have stopped.
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“But they don’t have the right to go through certain places before 10pm. I don’t understand why. Customers are complaining because their driver has to go round. That’s one issue.
“From my own experience and knowledge, they should be allowed to go through these places after 5pm or 6pm, because peak times finish after that.” Speaking after the meeting, the chair of the Leeds Private Hire Drivers Organisation (LPHDO), Ahmad Hussain backed those calls.
He said: “It’s not fair for us and it’s not fair for passengers. It creates more pollution. We’re stopping and starting more and we’re right in amongst the traffic. The point of the council’s clean air zone was to cut traffic. The quicker we’re out of the centre the better.”
“I don’t go into the city centre before 10pm because it’s not worth it. Many drivers are saying the same.” Drivers who do pick up passengers in the zones are subject to fines.
But speaking at the meeting, the council’s chief officer for highways, Gary Bartlett, suggested the authority could alter the policy if a consultation showed widespread support. He told Councillor Hussain: “Those restrictions can always be looked at. They’re imposed by a traffic regulation order (TRO) and they’re subject to statutory consultation.
“If there is feedback around, ‘Can it be relaxed to 8pm or 9pm?’, that’s something that could be considered.” However, Mr Bartlett appeared to rule out changes to a new city centre bus gate, which bans most traffic from accessing Wellington Street from Bishopgate Street.
The two roads meet just outside Leeds Rail Station. Buses and hackney carriages can pass through, but not private cars or private hire vehicles.
Councillor Hussain said this was unfair, a view also later backed by LPHDO. But Mr Bartlett said: “Because private hire vehicles look more like cars and if they are turning left through the bus gate I think it encourages other private vehicles to follow.
“That’s an experience other highways authorities have had elsewhere. Drivers don’t quickly differentiate between a private hire vehicles and a normal car.” The council recently announced it was cracking down on all drivers who unlawfully the use bus gate, with enforcement cameras having been put up.
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