Hardship Fund - A Slap in the Face for Limousine Licence Owners.

Minister Bailey has released details of the much needed Hardship Fund. He has missed the mark on this one. 

​Limousine Licence Owners are extremely dissapointed at the unfair distribution of the hardship funds. 

• Every Limousine Licence gets $4 500, split equally between the operator and the licence owner.

The owner and the operator of the licence on 11th August 2016 are the ones who are eligible for this. Licence Owners are the ones who have suffered hardship and should receive 100% of the hardship funding. 

Here's what stinks:  
The date of the eligibility for the Hardship Payment is 11th August 2016.

• Legalisation of ride booking happened on 5th September 2016. 
• A large number of operators handed in their plates after 5th September. Many others negotiated greatly reduced lease agreements.

Most operators have greatly reduced the amount of lease they  pay for licences. The ones who have experienced hardship in the Limousine Industry are the Licence Owners and Owner Operators.

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE
One operator on the Gold Coast handed back 15 licences soon after September 5th 2016.   

• The operator greatly reduced his operating costs, as any savy business operator would do, and made more profit.
• The Licence Owners received no income. A self funded retiree couple lost their entire income due to this one move.  Most of these Licence Owners have not been able to lease their licences again.
• That operator is set to receive $33 750 in hardship payment.  It makes no sense.

To top it all off, DTMR held workshops with Industry regarding distribution of the hardship payment. All who represented the Limousine Industry were united in the view that only Limousine Licence Owners would receive the hardship fund.  The government has gone against industry recommendations. 

The Limo Action Group has expressed it's views to Minister Bailey and he is open to discussions. We are hopeful that he will set this right and 100% of the hardship payment will go to Limousine Licence Owners.