Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland Council criticised for wasting hundreds of pounds of taxpayers money

Andrew MacDonald, chairman of the Inverness Taxi Alliance
Andrew MacDonald, chairman of the Inverness Taxi Alliance

Highland Council has come under fire for wasting hundreds of pounds of taxpayers money by posting letters by recorded delivery to notify taxi operators of recent fare rises.

The local authority posted first class recorded delivery letters to more than 500 taxi operators in the region at a cost of £1.61 each, amounting to at least £805 – but could have saved £610 by using 2nd class.

The council yesterday made clear that it was legally obliged to notify taxi operators of changes to tariffs in writing by recorded delivery.

Despite this, calls have been made from both the UK Taxpayers Alliance and Inverness Taxi Alliance to consider changed so that operators can receive the same information by e-mail.

One north taxi operator who did not want to be named said: “Has Highland Council not heard the saying, ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.'”

Andrew MacDonald, chairman of the Inverness Taxi Alliance, said: “If the statute dictates this then the council have not got much choice but it does seem a bit unnecessary to use recorded delivery in this day and age. I think e-mail would be a better choice. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the statute.

“Considering the reviewed increase is not going to be implemented until the end of September, I would think that using 2nd class mail would have been a better option.”

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: “The council doesn’t have much choice, but we need to remember that a lot of these laws were designed for a pre-internet age. With technology available that allows the authorities to see if someone has read an email, for instance, there might be an argument to look again at these regulations.”

The Taxi Alliance met on Wednesday to discuss how to advance further fare rises. Mr MacDonald said: “There is a great deal of work to be done. The council have a statutory obligation every 18 months to review tariffs and we have a lot to put forward to them. A 50p rise on the flagfall fare means customers would pay the same 50p for a run from the rank to the Ferry as they would from the rank to Aberdeen, because it is just for the first 800 yards.”

A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “It is a statutory obligation of the licensing authority to notify licensed taxi operators of changes to tariffs inwriting by recorded delivery.”

Members of the authority’s licensing committee decided to increase the existing trade minimum tariff by 50p from £2.50 to £3 from September 28.