MR T wrote:
Being an old fuddy duddy who was driving ph before the 1976 Act was adopted by most councils, I look back on it and ask the question why was it ever introduced? Was it because most of the vehicles were total wrecks, the main majority of drivers were failed small businessmen who needed to earn money quickly? A lot of drivers were hard cases who couldn't get a job anywhere else and were totally free from any type of control by the council. They used to charge what they wanted and if people didn't pay often gave them a slap. Mind you the customers weren't much better.
Nowadays the customers are often sons and daughters, grandchildren and friends, and you certainly wouldn't want them treated that way, so the councils adopted the 1976 Act to bring in control, and over the years that is exactly what it has done. Now, with the stroke of a pen, the deregulation act has effectively thrown the rules and regs out of the window. Now drivers can get licenced in one area and go and work in another area miles away, basically allowing themselves to do anything they want, because the licencing authority they are working in has no control over them, so the rule of chaos is again applied.
Instead of going back to the deregulation act and rectifying the mistake in law that has caused this, other people are looking to use this to improve their own positions to work to their advantage.
One group are licencing officers who are pushing at government level for enforcement officers to be empowered to stop any licenced vehicle from any district, in other words a national enforcement regime employed by the government, with powers to stop the same as the police. The thought sends chills down my spine.
Now Brighton is being closely watched by specialist solicitors and barristers as to what they do next regarding Uber considering Uber's licence was granted with the stipulation they would not be using licenced vehicle from outside Brighton. Will they have the courage to revoke? Knowsley is also under the watchful eye of the learned legal profession as to the outcome of their Judicial Review, which I believe will be out in November, which is based on the conditions that have been applied to the drivers licences, that they must mainly work in their own area.
The 1976 Act was brought in and adopted by councils to give them the power to enforce their duty of care to the public they represent. As it stands now it seems we have gone back in time to where the councils were powerless, so it begs the question, why be licenced at all and why pay licencing fees for the privilege? Luckily for me, my own connection with the taxi trade has only a short future, but I am sure in the years to come many people within the trade will find themselves pushed out.
Agree with your sentiments Mr. T.
The reason the 1847 Town And Police Clauses Act came about was to bring a Public Service into regulatory control,it took another 129 years to bring an unlicensed service into regulatory control 1976 Misc. Provisions Act since when the private hire have pushed for it to be changed or even removed,there has been pieces of legislation added ad hoc to bills affecting this trade whether it be TAXI or private hire orientated which has destroyed the Regulations in one form or another but the worst of all which was enacted after pressure to Regulators by large private hire operators and others was the 2015 Deregulation Act
which has took us back to not just pre 1976 but virtually to pre 1847 ,done away with regulatory control in the pursuit of pound.
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