Taxi fares are likely to rise in Swindon by £1 per journey from October.

Members of the borough council’s planning committee approved an increase in the tariffs for hackney carriages, the sort of taxi cabs you can hail or pick up at a rank.

The decision will have to go to the council’s cabinet to be approved after a public consultation – and if it is it could come into force in October.

The borough council’s head of regulatory services Kate Bishop told members of the committee: “The proposal has been made by a number of the hackney carriage trade and is to reflect the increase in costs they face, particularly fuel costs.”

The increase will see the minimum fare for the first quarter mile rise by £1 from £4.50 to £5.50 on the standard day rate.

The minimum fair on the right rate will increase by 60p from £5,90 to £6.50 and the minimum fare for the nights of Christmas and New Year will go up from £6.50 to £7.50.

The per-minute rate for all three rates will stay the same.

Ms Bishop pointed out to the committee: This is the maximum tariff a driver can charge. They are at liberty to charge less if they want to.

She told the committee that a journey of two miles at the day rate would increase in cost from £7.70 to £8.70, which would be more expensive than the same journey  Oxford, West Berkshire or Cheltenham, but less than one in the Vale of the White Horse, Reading or London.

One member of the committee, Councillor Dan Adams said he was in two minds: “This affects both members of the public and the taxi trade. A passenger might say with the cost of living still increasing, that this increase is too much, and they can’t afford it.

“But the costs of living also affects tax drivers, and in particular the cost of fuel, so taxi drivers might say they couldn’t afford to carry on if we didn’t grant this increase.”

Ms Bishop confirmed to the chairman of the committee Councillor John Ballman that there had been no increase in taxi fares since October 2022.

After a brief discussion, the committee voted  to approve the increase.

The members also voted to remove a clause from the council’s taxi policy that would see all hackney carriages be wheelchair-accessible vehicles by 2034.

The policy adopted said that drivers with saloon cars could keep them for 10 years from April 2024 – the council’s policy is that all taxis should not be older than 10 years – bat which point they would have to get a wheelchair accessible vehicle

The possibility of a legal challenge has seen that clause removed. In its place is a clause which means those who already have a licensed saloon car can keep it until it is 10 years old, and if they buy a new saloon within that time, it can also be operated until it is 10 years old.