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<p>Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) provide a particularly important service
for many disabled people, helping them to remain independent and to complete journeys
which may not be possible using other forms of transport.</p><p> </p><p>I recognise
that the availability of wheelchair accessible taxis and PHVs varies across Great
Britain, particularly in rural areas. I know too, however, that they can sometimes
be difficult to access for some ambulant disabled people. As such we encourage local
licensing authorities to use their existing powers to ensure that a range of vehicle
categories are represented in their taxi and PHV fleets. We have also introduced powers
in the Deregulation Act 2015 to enable the sub-contracting of PHV services across
local authority boundaries, helping to ensure that wheelchair accessible vehicles
are available wherever they are required.</p>
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