Our special correspondent takes an in-depth look at the process that brought Cardiff's taxi king down.

Extracts from the article 'The man who would be king!' are included below, but the full text of the article can be downloaded from:

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This story tells how one man single handedly wiped out 9.6 million pounds in plate values because of personal greed.

Cardiff Hackney Carriage proprietor Mr. Carl Cummings has an interest in over 12% of the 480 hackney carriage vehicles licensed by the local authority. He therefore has a Million reasons wrapped up in grey market plate values as to why Cardiff county council should retain its policy of restricting hackney carriage numbers. Unfortunately for Mr. Cummings, on 7th October 2003 Cardiff council decided to lift their restriction on numbers and change to a policy of quality control. The Council decision didn't sit well with Mr Cummings so he decided to roll out the men in grey wigs and challenge the council head on in a court of law.

After three appeals and thousands of pounds in court costs Mr Cummings vain attempts to scupper Cardiff Council were finally laid to rest in the Court of appeal on 11th July 2005. No one was surprised when the court of appeal hammered the final nail in the coffin of Carl Cummings ill-conceived applications for judicial review.   If it weren't for the time gained through delaying tactics Mr Cummings might well have jumped ship after failing to clear the first hurdle of the appeals in October 2004. He did however gain two years grace, which no doubt gave him time to contemplate his future and perhaps concentrate his mind on what life might be like under de-restriction.

The background to this case and eventual decision by Cardiff council to delimit numbers is quite fascinating but if it weren't for Mr Cummings own greed Cardiff's policy of restriction would still be in place today. 

The financial cost of litigation to Mr Cummings has no doubt been high but when faced with the prospect of losing an artificial premium of 1.2 Million pounds those costs fade into insignificance. When you consider the wider implications it means that 9.6 Million pounds of artificial plate values in Cardiff were wiped out simply because of the greed of one man, "all for the sake of a ballot".

At this moment in time Cardiff plates are worthless, the only hope existing plate owners have of retaining the status quo is if Cardiff council rescind their policy decision of October 7th 2003 and implement their original policy decision of 14th January 2003.   That decision may not be long in coming, I understand a report is already being prepared for the August 2005 committee meeting so by the time this article is published the committee's decision may already be known.

This article raises many questions but not least the greed that can manifest itself by those who find themselves in dominant positions simply because of a licensing authority decision to limit hackney carriage numbers. In this case the wider impact of individual greed has been devastating on those owners who had an artificial expectation of at least securing a future profit from the scarcity value of their license plate. We have seen yet another Taxi Proprietor fall foul of current Taxi law but somehow I doubt he will be the last.

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