FEARS have been voiced that Oswestry could soon be left without a taxi service as a result of new legislation on vehicle accessibility.

Under section 165 of the Equality Act 2010, which came into effect in 2017, all taxis deemed ‘wheelchair accessible’ must be capable of transporting wheelchair users either in a seat or in their chair.

Drivers must offer to assist passengers to get themselves and their chairs in and out of the vehicle, and cannot refuse passengers who are wheelchair users or charge them extra.

Shropshire Council adopted a new licensing policy in 2019 incorporating the new legislation.

But at a meeting of Oswestry Town Council on Monday evening, councillors said the new rules had led to a sharp decline in taxi availability in the town.

Members voted to set up a working group with Shropshire Council, community transport provider Qube, local taxi operators and the Business Improvement District (BID) to discuss the problem, and to ask Shropshire Council to carry out a review of its policy.

Councillor Duncan Kerr, chairing the meeting of the finance and general purposes committee, put forward the motion. He said: “We have all expressed concern about taxi availability in the town.

“I think it’s appropriate for Shropshire Council to review the impact of this decision.

“I understand the need to comply with the Equality Act, I understand why [the council] has had to make some difficult decisions.

“But I do think we need some data on the impact of that decision on the availability of taxis in various locations in Shropshire, so we can just see what the outcome of that policy is. Sometimes policies have unintended consequences.”

Councillor Kerr said he had been told by several taxi operators there would be “no taxis left in Oswestry” by next year. There are however several private hire operators serving the town, but Councillor Kerr said vehicles were not always wheelchair-friendly.

He said: “The Shropshire Council policy as I understand it clearly applies to taxis, it’s a lot less clear what applies to private hire vehicles.

“This is one of the problems. People are not able to get taxis but they are able to get private hire vehicles, but the private hire vehicles that I’ve seen around here are not wheelchair adapted.”

Councillor Kerr said the idea of forming a working group was so that the organisations involved could investigate options for running or supporting alternative wheelchair-accessible services, “if the very worst happens and we do end up in a situation where there is practically no provision in the town”.

He added that taxi availability was a matter of safety.

He said: “As a White Ribbon authority we don’t like to hear of stories where people are having to take lifts from friends or lifts from people they don’t know because they just simply can’t get a taxi to go home.”

Councillor John Price said the decline in availability was because wheelchair accessible vehicles were much more costly.

Councillor Les Maguire recalled a warning given by local taxi firm Higgins Taxis before the new legislation came in, “that the changes to be made would lose us taxis”.

He said: “The council was warned back then that this would have a detrimental effect, and it’s evident now.

“We need to go to Shropshire Council to re-evaluate the changes that they’ve made.”

Councillors unanimously voted in support of Councillor Kerr’s motion.