New restrictions on the type of vehicles used by taxi and private hire operations in East Lothian will make 30% of those currently in use illegal.
East Lothian's licensing sub-committee today (Thursday) approved restrictions to the types of vehicles which can be used by operators in a move which council officers said would "encouraging a better public perception of the taxi trade".
And they were told it would reduce the number of 'substandard' taxi owners on the streets.
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Alan Kelley, transport compliance officer, said the new restrictions would affect around 30% of East Lothian's taxi fleet.
He added taxi firms who were keen to continue and had worked through the pandemic and were turning out 'good and clean' taxis on a daily basis would be willing to make changes necessary.
He said: "What this would do is reduce the number of substandard taxi owners that we have out there, the guys that just turn out on a Friday or Saturday night, it is not their bread and butter it is just a hobby that they have because they have a vehicle that is suitable."
The move will, Mr Kelly said, mean all taxis will have side door access for wheelchair users and meet other essential disability standards.
He told the committee that there was a perception that people in wheelchairs were "shunned" by taxi firms because many vehicles used rear access doors.
He said: "To get into a rear opening vehicle in a wheelchair the user has to be bumped down from the kerb onto the road and pushed up an extended ramp by the taxi driver."
He added that there are no dropped kerbs at taxi ranks in the county and side doors would allow wheelchair users to enter from pavements.
Private hire cars will have to have a minimum of four separate doors (excluding rear facing doors), exactly four passenger seats if it is a saloon vehicle, or exactly eight passenger seats for multi passenger vehicles.
Saloon cars will have a maximum CO2 emission level of 150g/km for diesel vehicles and a maximum CO2 emission level of 165g/km for petrol vehicles with vehicles with 8 seats given a maximum CO2 emission level not exceeding 225g/km for either diesel or petrol powered vehicles.
All changes will need to be made by April 2025.
Committee convenor Councillor Colin McGinn questioned whether the changes would be cost prohibitive for some firms in the two year time scale
Council transport officer Andrew McLellan said the local authority had daily contact with taxi operators who were under council contracts and suggested those who were not were not always willing to discuss their situation.
He told the committee: "A lot of the smaller companies do tend to ask questions, if they are really struggling that is something we could look at and evaluate and if we thought it was a big problem we could bring it back to the committee to see if there was a need to allow a timeline for a company to meet it, but we need to have a line in the sand.
The committee approved the new restrictions with Councillor John McMillan, saying: "I think we are giving a heads up and there is sufficient time to tackle this."
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