Dickson and Williams Frustrated by Irrational Treatment of the Wedding and Funeral Vehicles Sector

East Antrim Alliance MLA, Stewart Dickson, and Mid and East Antrim Alliance Councillor, Noel Williams, have voiced their frustration at the irrational treatment of the Wedding and Funeral vehicles sector by the Infrastructure Minister.

Mr Dickson said: “The Wedding and Funeral vehicles sector comes under the remit of the Taxis Act 2008. As such, the sector is regulated in the same fashion as commercial taxi drivers.

“However, wedding and funeral car drivers often drive vintage cars for far shorter periods, and for far shorter distances, than taxi drivers. To insist that such drivers obtain taxi licenses to operate within the sector, is not just unreasonable and overly bureaucratic, but it is actually deterring potential new recruits”.

Mr Williams said: “Wedding and funeral car drivers feel that their sector is being strangled by excessive regulation and are simply advocating for a more nuanced approach”.

Echoing Mr Williams, Mike Barr from the NI Wedding Vehicle Association said: “We are not opposed to regulation, but a ‘one-size fits all’ Taxi Act does not work for wedding and funeral car operators in Northern Ireland.

“We have suggested many solutions and compromises to help regulate our sector, but still no action has been taken. They listen, they sympathise, but they do nothing!”

Agreeing with Mr Barr, Nick Britten, a spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors said: “Nowhere else in the UK are wedding and funeral vehicles subject to the same regulations as public service vehicles, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only served to highlight the problems they create.”

The Infrastructure Minister, in response to mounting calls for change - or at least for the extension of exemption certificates – has said that any changes to the Taxis Act 2008 would require a comprehensive review entailing legislative and policy considerations around regulation, associated costs, and public consultation responses. The Minister has said she does not believe this will be possible within the timeframe of the current Assembly mandate.

Mr Dickson concluded by saying: “I am not surprised by the Minister’s response, but I am left feeling deeply disappointed”.