Isle of Wight Council has opened consultation on a fuel surcharge for hackney carriages. Private hire fares are outside this table. The notice runs from Friday 23 October to Sunday 8 November 2026. On 16 October the Licensing Committee approved the change for that consultation, and limited it to Tariff 1. Fully electric taxis are exempt. If nobody objects, or every objection is withdrawn, the new table is due to take effect on 1 December 2026. Taxi fare consultation
The decision
The extraordinary meeting began at 10am in the council chamber at County Hall, Newport. Cllr J Whelan was in the chair, with Cllrs E Blake, P Fuller and S Reynolds. The Licensing and Business Services Manager presented the report. The current table was approved in 2022, when average fuel prices were lower. Prices have risen since, and the trade has asked for a surcharge while fuel stays high. There has been no request for a higher rate per mile. Officers' calculations did not show a case for raising the mileage rates. The report describes financial hardship for some operators while fuel is high. A surcharge that can be switched on and off would cover a spell of high prices without a permanent increase, and without repeated meter recalibration.
Members asked whether the extra should sit on every tariff. Officers took the view that Tariffs 2, 3 and 4 already carry higher charges, and that those rates already reflect the cost of working those hours. Members noted that the pressure was on ordinary daytime work. Tariff 1 is 8am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, and it does not apply on a Sunday or a bank holiday. The committee approved the amendments for consultation with the surcharge on Tariff 1 only.
Members asked about school transport, council contracts and the existing fare structure. Officers advised that school transport is handled under separate contracts and would not be affected. The figures in the table are still a maximum. A driver may charge less.
Members also went through how the charge would be monitored, and the record a driver would have to keep. Some were concerned that the proposal is complicated, and that it should be clear to the public and to drivers. Others considered that a consultation with the trade and the public would show the pressure the trade is under. The committee agreed that a wider review of the table should follow, once this consultation and the path of fuel prices had been assessed. That review is to be presented to the committee in June 2027. Typing errors in the draft chart were to be corrected before the consultation documents were published.
The notice
An objection must be in writing and with the Licensing Section by Sunday 8 November 2026. The address is County Hall, High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1UD. The email is licensing@iow.gov.uk. A copy of the proposed table can be inspected there, free of charge and by appointment, until 4pm on Friday 6 November.
The notice is required by section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. Members were told that any objection still outstanding would come back to the committee in November. The public notice says the council will then decide whether to bring the surcharge in, change it, or withdraw it. If the start date has to move, it must still fall within two months of 1 December 2026.
What a driver would add
The licensing department would decide when a surcharge applies, and email proprietors. That column would stay in force until a further email. Drivers would not apply a band of their own when the pump price changed. Each journey on which the extra is added has to be recorded. Officers will make random checks.
The amount comes from the published chart and is added at the end of the journey. The passenger is to be told before it goes on the fare. The table has to be displayed where the passenger can see it. The meter fare is what is payable unless an authorised extra, or this surcharge, applies.
On the chart the committee had in front of it, the columns run from an average of £1.80 a litre to £2.50. The highest figure on that sheet is £5, for a metered fare of £50 or more when the average reaches £2.50 a litre. A fare from £5.01 to £10 was shown as 40p at £2 a litre and 80p at £2.50. Because typing errors on the draft were to be corrected before publication, the table to use is the one now on the consultation page.