Taxi fares in East Ayrshire have not increased, local authority officials have said.

An article in the Cumnock Chronicle last month said that fares would be increasing as part of the new structure.

Information taken from East Ayrshire Council's website regarding taxi fare prices, which the website indicated was from July 2023, was used as a comparison against the structure that came into effect from December 31.

However, the local authority has now said there was an error with how this information was displaying on the council website, and that the details published there were in fact a few years old.

A council official told the Chronicle that "unfortunately it would appear that one of our web pages was out of date".

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The council says the fare structure did not change on December 31, and that fares in the area have been unaltered since May 2022.

We are happy to make the position clear.

The current fare prices state that the maximum amount a taxi will be able to charge for a journey of between zero and 1,320 yards (0.75 miles) will be £4.

For each additional 125 yards or part thereof, an additional 20p can be added.

For reference, a journey from Asda in Cumnock to Visions Leisure Centre is around one mile, meaning it could be charged at a maximum price of £4.80.

Surcharges included in the changes will be hires between midnight and 6am of £2.

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Hires between midnight on December 24 until 6am on December 26 and midnight on December 31 until 6am on January 2 will be a double fare.

Five, six, seven and eight-seater taxis will be £2 extra per passenger more than four people.

A waiting time per five minutes will be a surcharge of £1.95.

A fouling charge of £50 is still in effect.

Maximum charges for a 1.5 mile journey will be £6.20. Two miles will be £7.60. 2.5 miles will be £9. Three miles will be £10.40 and five miles will be £16.

Fares in excess of five miles will be the subject of special agreements.

Full details of the current maximum fare scales can be found at East Ayrshire Council's website on a page which was most recently updated on Friday, January 5.