Taxi Tax might be ‘nail in the coffin’ for taxi drivers and hit prospects ‘like a train’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

A taxi driver has warned a brand new tax on personal rent automobiles may very well be the “nail in the coffin” for drivers and prospects.

Saf Khan, 43, is a taxi driver who works in and round Telford, Shropshire. He instructed Express.co.uk concerning the devastation that may very well be precipitated if the brand new 20 % levy is available in.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been urged to intervene after a High Court case final yr dominated that taxi corporations, not taxi drivers, have been accountable for VAT. The new tax might result in each fare rising by 20 % if it isn’t addressed within the subsequent finances.

Mr Khan is without doubt one of the 1000’s of drivers within the UK who may very well be impacted by the brand new tax which can see each a drop in prospects and the variety of taxi drivers.

He mentioned that the brand new tax was a “no-win situation from every angle” each for him and prospects for whom the brand new tax will hit them “like a train”.

Mr Khan defined: “As a driver, it’s going to be very detrimental because as we know people are struggling as it is already. To whack another 20 percent on the fares…is going to hit the customers like a train.”

He added that it’ll additionally hit drivers as a result of the elevated costs might imply the variety of prospects will drop. He mentioned: “From a driver’s point of view, I think the number of customers is going to go down and possibly the number of drivers will go down as well.

“Drivers are struggling as it is. If the fares are going to go up it’s going to be deterring customers from booking taxis, it’s going to increase our hours further, just to make ends meet.”

While the brand new 20 % tax may not be an issue for the wealthiest, for folks in some communities in Shropshire, Mr Khan says it’ll hit them and weak prospects even tougher.

Mr Khan mentioned: “For the well-off a 20 percent increase on the fares probably doesn’t seem a lot, but a lot of the customers we pick up. I live in Shropshire, there’s a lot of rural areas around Shropshire in very remote areas.

“They rely on taxis, they’re regular taxi users some of them use us two or three times a day. A lot of vulnerable users rely on us as well [such as] wheelchair users.

“These people are not well off. We don’t want to punish customers, they’re longstanding [customers]. These guys basically pay our wages.

“Essentially they don’t know what’s going on in the background with all this 20 percent, it’s not really been that well publicised.”

He added that the transport state of affairs in some areas was so dangerous that cabs have been now choosing up bus passengers let down by native companies, he defined: “We actually pick people up from bus stops who’ve been let down by the real buses because their services don’t run as efficiently so that happens a lot.

“This 20 percent could be the nail in the coffin. For them to introduce this tax at this moment could spell the end. It will deter a lot of taxi drivers away, it will deter customers away.”

On what his message to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt can be, Mr Khan mentioned: “We are the heart of the community, we are a very important part, especially in the areas like Telford where the public transport is not good at all.

“Our bills already sky high, my message to the Chancellor would be to think this through from a driver’s perspective as well as a passenger’s perspective.”