Midlothian taxi fare increases on hold after appeal by operators

Taxi fare increases in Midlothian have been suspended after operators appealed to the government over new fees approved by the council.

Midlothian councillors agreed to introduce increases of up to 20 percent after a review was held in September this year.

However a report due to be considered by elected members this week revealed there had been an ‘unintentional error’ in the new tariffs which changed the waiting time fees from every 30 seconds to 60 seconds, effectively reducing the amount charged from 50p a minute to 30p.

Members of the council’s general purposes committee met yesterday to decide how to deal with the error, but were told it was now out of their hands after taxi operators filed an appeal with the UK Government Traffic Commissioner.

The council’s Derek Oliver told the