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Victorious: Richard Barlow

MORE than 300 Oxford private hire drivers are celebrating after they today won a ten-year battle to use the city's bus lanes.

The victory means the city's 357 private hire taxi drivers will be able to share bus lanes with their black cab-driving counterparts after driver Richard Barlow presented a 3,500 name petition to Oxfordshire County Council.

Under current rules black cabs had been allowed to use the lanes - but private hire vehicles, which outnumber hackney carriages by three to one, were banned.

Private hire vehicle drivers said the rules created unfair competition between taxis. They said passengers could expect to save up to £5 on a rush-hour journey between Cumnor and the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mr Barlow, from Osborne Close, Kidlington, said: "I'm over the moon and so are the rest of the drivers. Some of them have said they owe me big time but all I was doing was fighting on a matter of principle.

"It's going to save passengers money, it's going to cut pollution because we're not going to be sat in traffic pumping out fumes and it's going to allow drivers to earn more money because they can pick up more fares."

The 54-year-old, who took up the cause a year ago after nine years of campaigning by fellow driver Tony Green, added: "We've had passengers moaning at us asking why black cabs are in the bus lane and accusing us of ripping them off. This will cause minimum disruption to bus services and is a victory for common sense.

"It just proves a little person can take on the council and get the result they want."

Council transport leaders had been concerned about the effects of an increase in traffic within bus lanes on cyclists and buses, but a traffic survey last November 2007 said there would be no harmful effects.

The new rules, which mean private hire vehicles can use all the city's bus lanes including the Kidlington route into the city, and at West Way, Botley, are expected to come into force in two weeks' time, with the council formally reviewing the situation 12 months later.

Alan Woodward, the general secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxi Cab Association, which represents hackney carriage drivers, said: "We couldn't object to fellow drivers having access to lanes that we already use. I just hope it doesn't cause congestion in the bus lanes."

5:43pm Thursday 27th March 2008

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