Taxi drivers are being told to keep plug-in heaters in their cars to keep them warm in wintery weather to dodge a crackdown on idling engines.
Council officers told cabbies last week they would be fined if caught with their engines running if the temperature was zero degrees or higher.
Earlier this month, at least one taxi driver, George Ayad, was told he would be fined after an environmental enforcement officer spotted him with the engine on while at the East Street taxi rank, even though it was snowing.
And just ahead of last week’s meeting of the Brighton and Hove Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Consultation Forum last Thursday, drivers were told to keep doors and windows closed and buy heaters to keep warm.
Andrew Peters, of the Brighton and Hove Cab Trade Association, said: “We have now been sent advice which defines when us minions can keep the engine running and some advice at the end to all go out and buy plug in heaters. You couldnt make it up!
“I laboured the point at the meeting last week about not being able to have the engines running for heat unless it was below zero.
“It was apparent straight away that not all at the head table were aware of this.
“Additionally I pointed out that to have a 12v internal heater running on the aux would mean for some cars having to have the ignition on first click which would run the battery down.
“We also have on board board equipment such as CCTV, meters and taxi roof signs all drawing power.
“I have asked for a rewrite excluding where it stated zero degree and to be sent out to the trade.”
“The advice also suggests having heating on while travelling to and from the rank and keeping windows and doors closed.”
Brighton and Hove City Council introduced the on the spot fines for idling engines this month. Within days, drivers were being asked to switch off their engines by the council’s environment enforcement officers despite sub-zero temperatures.
George Ayad, who was told he would be getting a fine in the post, said he had heard Councillor Tim Rowkins on BBC Sussex saying tickets wouldn’t be issued to taxi drivers trying to keep warm. During the interview, Cllr Rowkins did say this applied to “sub-zero temperatures”
George said: “Suddenly on Sunday an enforcement officer came to me and he asked me if I could turn the engine off.
“I said no, because it’s too cold. It was about six in the morning and it was snowing. He said you have got to turn it off or I’ll give you a ticket.”
George refused to give his name and address, but the enforcement officer took his plate number and said he would track him down using that and to expect a ticket.
George says the officer even double checked the rules with his boss, but insisted the ticket would stand. He had been inside his cab, with the windows closed to keep out the cold.
He added: “On Friday night at 2.30am all the enforcement officers are around the West Street taxi rank. They have been going around and asking all the drivers to turn their engines off.
“We do minimum 10 hour shifts. Sometimes we can wait for one and a half hours for a job.
“Some drivers have problems with their joints. We have to keep ourselves warm.
“It looks like they are targeting the taxi drivers. We never see them anywhere except the taxi ranks.”
A council spokesman said: “We take a common sense approach to enforcement so there are exemptions, including those which take into consideration severe weather and the health and safety of the driver or passengers.
“However, taxi drivers seen idling their engines whilst stationary at a taxi rank with their windows open or vacant from their vehicle would be expected to comply with the instruction to turn off their engine, since the defence of keeping warm would not apply.”
The rules say: “Authorised Environmental Enforcement Officers will apply discretion before issuing a fixed penalty notice for example when a driver is clearing ice or snow from the car and the engine is idling.”
The fine for idling is £20, or £40 if not paid within 10 days.
Lmao plug in heaters. So every 5 or 10min they’ll need to start the engine as those things drain the battery fast.
This whole article is a bit silly. Once your car is heated up, it generally stay that way for a pretty solid whole. Also dress for the occasion. And technically, heated blankets are far superior to space heaters.
No it doesn’t. At night the temperature inside a vehicle drops very quickly.
Its a joke….the council are as potty as the ones in the OCC. They can’t fine any driver for having their engine running. What all the councils seem to be missing is this….common sense. They don’t know how to deal with the environment or climate change. They have no realisation of what a real job entails, none of them live in the real world and they don’t understand non factual rubbish that they are peddled.
Lol common sense BHCC has non if their telling taxi drivers taxi drivers that just to punish drivers yet again
Be a uber driver you never sit around for hour and a half that the different working for a living or waiting to rip off you next customer at the rank that why you wait hour and a half and you cold,. 😂😂😂
Obviously you have no idea about the taxi trade !! Taxi drivers are governed by the local government who set the fare rate
So for example travelling from A-B
Let’s say £8 depending on traffic so it would roughly be the same every time
Now with uber if they are quiet it will be let’s say £6 “But” if they are busy that could be anything from £20 to £40 so who’s ripping you off now ?
And silly people like you pay it and don’t moan !!!!
And before you say no they don’t
a customer in Medway was charged £11.50 by Uber from a Taxi local it’s normally £7
2 days later the same passenger £47.75 for the same journey all because Uber were busy !!!!
And this is an everyday day occurrence with Uber
NOW WHOSE BEING RIPPED OFF?
In fact what the customer pays uber is not what the driver receives which can be considerably less. In fact uber drivers here in Brighton are constantly moaning on their local whatsapp group about how low the fares are getting. Its now a lowest bidding system. And if you think that uber drivers are rushing around everywhere then I suggest you join some of the many facebook uber groups where they are all moaning.. and sitting around doing nothing due to the huge amount of drivers that now work under uber. For example, Wolverhampton has issues over 30k private hire licences to drivers who predominantly work elsewhere… Uber is brilliant for the customer but the devil for the driver…
I am sure that there is a H&S aspect to this. Another astounding own goal coming up courtesy of your inept councillors who either dream up this stuff or just hitch their wagons without a single thought.
unfortunately, it doesn’t matter who sits in the council, these days, red blue or green. They all sing from the same hymn,(World economic forum)
Is this even legally enforceable?
I’ve pmsl twice! As a first aider, the trigger temp (body core temp) for Hypothermia is above 0C. Obviously none of the Council Officers have any medical acumen. If they they persist with this rubbish then someone will most certainly die! The symptoms of Hypothermia (for the benefit of the cretin Council) are feeling cold, confusion and then unconsciousness – then DEATH!! Who will be held responsible when someone inevitably dies??? This is their best yet, Please BHCC name the author of this policy, so they can be rightfully sued for damages!
This is the most dangerous cr*p you’ve ever come out with. Please consult a Doctor.
Are Civil Servants all f*cking stupid!!!
yes, plan Z
Whoever said buy plug in heaters is clearly a moron who has no basic grasp of physics. Heaters run off power, the battery is powered by the motor…
Better advice would have been, wear thermals and take a jacket. But to be fair taxi drivers do sit there in normal weather with the engines running windows open. So it’s not totally ridiculous to want this to be cut down in areas like north street where the pollution is high. Just maybe, keep the silly comments to a minimum.
As for the argument drivers work minimum 10 hours, that reinforces the argument in my book that taxi trade should be on tachograph.
Its not constant driving… on average eight hour shift you are probably sitting around for about three.
Most HGV drivers spend 2 hours loading and unloading so I don’t understand the point your making. Judging by how some of these guys drive, they should be on tachograph which will stop them driving half asleep.
On my experience, most speeding or examples of reportable bad driving comes from taxi vehicles.
Get rid of the morons who introduced this shit. Fucking environmentalist wokes make me sick . If they had there way we’d been living with candles, and bloody windmills.
Did invertors stop being a thing?
No invertors are a thing but need a lot of power just like a plug in heater, and without the engine running the battery would be flat very quickly
If they reduced their prices and took card payments instead of pretending their card reader is broken so they can avoid tax, maybe they would be driving more often and there’d be less sitting around in a cold car?
Just a thought.
I don’t use Brighton & Hove Taxis any longer. I don’t agree with tax-dodgers. I pay mine.
Miles Monty
I always thought the council set the tariffs.
It is clear card readers do fail, had several on buses that didn’t work, I’m sure the driver wasn’t pretending.
Maybe a few will avoid paying tax, there’s no way of knowing, sadly there’s far too many Private hire vehicles in Brighton and that leads me nicely onto your last point.
You don’t use B&H taxis, great, so you must walk, cycle or take a bus then because you can’t use UBER because you don’t agree with tax dodgers.
Council sets the tariff for taxis, (hackney carriages), but not for private hire, which is just that; a
contract between the hirer and the operator, (not the driver). The fare should be agreed in advance, unless the hirer is happy to go with an open ended contract.
I can’t say I ever use a taxi these days. They are too expensive for my blood.
It’s not tax they’re avoiding by not taking card payments, it’s the astronomical charges made by the card companies…. like American express for example.
Amex are indeed the worst culprit for card charges.
I am a retired taxi driver from a different area, taxis are an easy target for these councils, after being in the business for over 25 years I was told I needed an NVQ, the examiner had never driven a taxi and I knew more than he did. In the case if waiting in ghe cold obviously the councillors who dream these ideas up are in centrally heated offices and have no idea how cold it can be sitting waiting for a fare. Yes I agree vehicles should not be left running with no driver in it. I have seen this myself. Believe me I turned my engine off whenever possible to save fuel costs. As for tax dodging, got proof? A taxi is very expensive to run, insurance is ridiculous and service and testing soon mounts up. Then you have to cover the cost of the vehicle. 10 hours a day seems a lot to non cabbies, but when you consider a lot of that time is spent waiting a tacho would be a bit pointless
Most engines its recommended to idle following a drive to allow the oil to cool the auxiliaries and the turbo. Also to warm the engine before you set of first thing will the councils be covering any dammage caused by there knew rules?
Have a reference for that, because that’s a new one for me?
That advice is as old as the hills, but still valid today. Let an engine warm up a little before pulling away – the reasoning being that the oil drops to the bottom of the engine and the oil pump takes a while to get it flowing round the engine. Most engine wear happens when it is cold as components are sized for a hot engine, and you have metal to metal contact going on. The oil forms a very thin barrier between the metal parts. That’s how it works. Worn engines create more air pollution they allow oil to pass by piston rings and valve guides which then burns alongside the petrol or diesel.
As for turbos – these get very hot and idling the engine allows it to cool down a little before stopping. Not such a big thing these days as turbos tend to be a little ‘softer’ and not run at super high temperatures.
Interesting, I learnt something new. Thank you.
Don’t you just love the woke cretins at BHCC Transport Dept!
Personally, I find it amusing people who use woke as a insult, because the opposite of being sensitive to social issues is ignorance and bigotry, tools of the uneducated who can’t formulate a logical argument.
Vehicle idling has been an offence since the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002. See also Highway Code Rule 123.
this is a public health measure. An idling engine burns fuel less efficiently than an engine in motion, producing about twice the volume of emissions. An idling car engine creates enough exhaust emissions to fill about 150 balloons every minute. These contain poisonous chemical pollutants like cyanide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and PM2.5 particles.
I prefer an Uber
What’s that got to do with this article ??
Uber are in direct competition with taxis, Paul.
January 2024
We’re asking drivers to switch off their engines when parked to help improve air quality. It will benefit everyone using the roads and will also help drivers to save on fuel costs.
To complement this, City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee in June 2023 agreed to introduce enforcement measures for drivers who don’t switch off their engines while parked. The enforcement measures came into effect from 2 January 2024.
If a driver is witnessed idling, they may be liable for a £40 Fixed Penalty Notice, reduced to £20 if paid within 10 days.
The enforcement covers all vehicles on public roads including buses, taxis, and private cars. This could be in a parking bay, taxi rank and other parts of the road, but doesn’t apply to sitting in traffic.
In all cases, drivers will be approached and asked to turn their engines off before a fine is issued.
We are taking a common-sense approach to enforcement so there are exemptions including those which take into consideration severe weather and the health and safety of the driver or passengers.
For example, enforcement would not apply to drivers who need their engines on to clear their windscreen, or to taxi drivers who are stationary at a taxi rank with their engines running when temperatures are below zero degrees and have no other means to keep warm. Similarly, enforcement would not apply in extremely high temperatures when drivers need to keep the air conditioning on and have no other means to keep cool.
However, taxi drivers seen idling their engines whilst stationary at a taxi rank with their windows open or vacant from their vehicle would be expected to comply with the instruction to turn off their engine. Failing to do so may result in a Fixed Penalty Notice due to being contrary to section 42 of the Road Traffic Act.
Other ways to keep your vehicle warm without having to have the engine running while stationary at a rank are:
• Having your heating on whilst travelling to and from the rank to keep the inside of your vehicle at suitable temperature.
• Keeping all windows and doors closed.
• Considering purchasing a portable 12v plug in heater that can be used without the need of your engine running.
We received this massage for the Council
What a load of old tosh, the council can’t fine you just because your engine is on….if that was the case they could walk down a traffic jam and give everyone a fine!
They have little understanding of the pollution, climate and environmental issues but instead listen and act on the rubbish they have been peddled.
They don’t seem to grasp the destruction that is going on just so we have EVs on the roads (check out cobalt mines/lithium mines that can be seen from space, the poisonous liquids used in the processing of ore, most mines only have between 5 – 10 years of production, lithium and cobalt are finite like helium, transportation using diesel and oil, being made in environmentally unfriendly factories etc etc), they don’t grasp the concept of how our weather changes and what influences. They just think that getting rid of CO2 will solve our pollution problems but oh no they won’t, see this rain forest destruction of soy (animal feed) and palm oil (when there is sustainable palm oil) and gold….and if we strip the rain forests, there will be a massive increase in not just CO2. There will be flooding, living creatures being turfed out of their homes or killed and some of these haven’t even been seen before.
The globalists think they can save the world by destroying it. They want total control over us and are working towards that goal every day as they find new things to screw us over with…ULEZ, 15 minute cities, ICE vehicles being banned (only those that can really afford an ev can buy one, I know I can’t…I would need to spend 70k plus interest to get a car and I can’t afford anything like that. My current car is 8k, so even if I did want an EV the 2k scrappage wouldn’t even pay for the battery never mind the interest.
Public transport is limiting….you have to go at certain times to go and come back, they are full of germs, and I have anxieties with public transport that would make it highly unlikely I will ever use it. Cycling, well I’m on disability so you know how far that’s going to go…not very. Walking, impossible to walk to my nearest shop in 15 minutes. I tried it, it took me 40. So I would be forced to live the life of a hermit and at 55years old I don’t think so. No one is going to tell me what I can and can’t do. I pay my road tax, I pay my insurance, I pay for my MOT, fuel, repairs so as far as I am aware there is nothing stopping me.
Trades people won’t be able to get all their tools and equipment on a bus and then carry it from the bus stop to their work place or back again. Have you got any idea on how much would get done because it won’t be much.
All this money they have spent and for what? to give cyclists more power on the road? Well, we know how that went before. The speed limit used to be 20 mph until all the cyclists started breaking that speed limit and that’s why we have the 30 speed limit we have now.
I’m sick of MPs and the government thinking they can nanny us all the time. Look we’re big enough to look after ourselves. Sugar tax brought in by Mrs May (a directive from the eu), removal of tobacco products (a directive from the eu). If I want sugar in my fizzy pop I will bloody well have sugar in my fizzy pop and tax be damned! There are only two guarantees in life, death and taxes.
Its time you stood up and was counted, vote these idiots out! Stop letting others tell you what to do and remember soap actors are just that actors they aren’t like that in real life so stop stalking, assaulting, swearing at them lol I know some of you might think that’s a bit of a weird bit but believe it or not there are people out there that believe soap actors are baddies in real life. Stop listening to their nonsense and start doing research on matters.
When Sunak signed the net zero emissions agreement, a couple of things happened….firstly, the UK now sends money to countries that have a lot of pollution, secondly I believe he knew that the liberal lefties would jump on the chance to cripple drivers and in the process of doing so have created MORE pollution not less. Its more concentrated because of the filtering of traffic through certain areas, like in Oxford. Those LTNs are to support safer neighbourhoods that’s rubbish. RTC (road traffic collisions) have been decreasing since before covid!
With regard to pollution, the UK isn’t even in the top 10 of world polluters, that falls to countries like China, Inda, USA, Germany….our pollution is no where near as bad as a lot of countries and therefore we should not be punished for other peoples irresponsibility.
The main problem with pollution is over population. 2B sarcastic 2 make a point, if there were a tenth of the population in Brighton & uk then would there be such a problem with pollution? We are always trying to cope with the curable problem of over population. Ironic that Labour councils will mostly want to increase population by immigration and lying by labeling you as racist if you are anti immigration. Is the answer too car pollution more 20 Yr old male driver immigrants?