COUNCILLORS will meet with taxi chiefs as they look for ways to support the service in Renfrewshire.

The talks, set to be held in the next month, have been organised after it was claimed the public weren’t being served by the trade at last week’s Regulatory Functions Board.
Renfrewshire Cab Co manager Hannah McCulloch met with Councillor Eddie Devine to discuss the taxi trade this week.

It has now been agreed that a further meeting will be held, which elected members from Renfrewshire Council will be encouraged to attend.

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Councillor Devine said: “I went down and had a chat with Hannah on Monday and she offered a more in depth meeting to look at how the system works and how their calls are handled.

“She was very open and happy to go into details about how it works.

“I’m hoping to find out how things work and quite frankly, are the council making things harder or easier and can they help?”

Concerns had been raised by members about the lack of availability of taxis in Paisley, both late at night and in the early hours of the morning.

Ms McCulloch assured her firm was operational at peak evening weekend times but was open to suggestions of how to “better the service” for members of the public.

She said: “I invited Eddie to the office and after a good discussion I felt it could be beneficial to extend invitation to any other councillors concerned with taxi and private hire trade to meet with me at our offices.

“It’s important to be mindful that we’re discussing a four hour window, 11pm to 3am, out of a 168-hour week, where normal pick up times are within five to 10 minutes.

“However, I’ve cooperated with the likes of Pub Watch and Paisley First in the past and we’re always open to suggestions to better the service for the Paisley public.”

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Councillor Devine believes elected members and the taxi trade need to work together to see if more can be done to help punters.

He added: “We made all these rules and regulations back in the day but things have moved on.

“Things are now electronic and we’ve got Uber, which has come into the mix. I would like to understand what the problems are.

“We are happy to bash the taxis but can we help to make them more accessible for people late at night and early in the morning.”

Councillor Devine will be joined by fellow Labour Councillor Kevin Montgomery in meeting with Renfrewshire Cab Co.

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However, the Labour group leader hopes councillors from all parties will join them.

He added: “I would ask other political groups to speak to them and find out what the problems are.

“We are all good at complaining but can we find a solution?”