SLIGHTLY revised North Ayrshire taxi fares have been finalised, with just small changes set to be made to festive rates.

The new scales will now be shared with taxi operators and trade organisations and they have the right to appeal within 14 days to the Traffic Commissioner. If not, the details will then be published in a newspaper.

Eleanor Collier, North Ayrshire Council's licensing committee chair, said at a recent meeting: “The tariffs which have been proposed are basically the same as they are and they have the benefit to the trade of not having to recalibrate their meters, particularly for the operators on Arran – they will really welcome that as that is one of the issues.

“We also listened to their concerns about tariffs over the festive period and have made some minor amendments after having the consultation with them.”

At the moment under the proposals tariff one (normal) starts at £3.50 for the first three quarters of a mile and each mile thereafter is £2.30 (in 10p units).

Waiting up to 10 minutes is £3.50 (then 10p every 20 seconds or part).

Tariff two is £4 for the first three quarters of a mile and each mile is £3 (in 10p units). Waiting up to 19 minutes is £4 and then 10p every 20 seconds or part.

Tariff two applies if the journey starts and/or ends: in the period 12pm (midnight) to 7am (night), on a Sunday and the following public holidays: Good Friday, early May bank holiday, spring bank holiday, summer bank holiday and November 30 (St Andrew’s Day).

If a bank holiday is on a weekend, the following Monday is treated as the bank holiday.

In terms of the festive season, amended tariff three will now read: “If the journey starts and/or ends from December 25 until December 26, at 7am or from January 1 until January 2, the fare is double tariff one."

The other knock-on change is that within tariff two, instead of ‘on December  26 or January 2',  it will now read: “From 7am until 12pm (midnight) on December 26 and January 2.”