Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver’s seat victory - after 18 months
Thursday, 04 August 2011


WATCHET-based taxi driver Andy Virgin has won an 18-month battle with West Somerset Council and forced councillors to accept they were wrong to make him take a seat out of his seven-seater vehicle.

The businessman will now be able to use his Ford Tourneo vehicle with all seven seats in place after securing an exemption to the council’s taxi rules and regulations.

But the breakthrough only came after Mr Virgin complained to the local government ombudsman about his treatment by the authority - who found the council guilty of maladministration.

As reported in the Free Press at the time, Mr Virgin, who runs Datacabs, had to buy a replacement seven-seater after his original taxi was destroyed in an arson attack in December 2007.

He took the new vehicle to the council’s nominated garage to be inspected and was duly issued a vehicle licence and plate - but six weeks later he was summoned by the council for another inspection by officers following an anonymous tip-off alleging his vehicle did not comply with the council’s private hire regulations.

In 2005, the authority introduced a rule that all passengers must be able to “access and egress from the vehicle . . . without the need to remove or adjust any seating”.

While Mr Virgin’s older vehicle was licensed before the new seating rule was introduced, officers ruled the new vehicle breached the regulation.

He subsequently applied for an exemption from the rule, but members of the then licensing committee ruled in February last year that he could only use the vehicle if he removed a seat to ensure it complied with the regulation.

While the ombudsman was unable to comment on the licensing committee’s decision, he did find that the council had been wrong when it initially granted Mr Virgin an operator’s licence for the Ford and then retracted it. He said the council had not followed its own rules and should not have issued a licence before officers inspected the vehicle for themselves.

As well as finding a case of maladministration, the ombudsman recommended the council to allow Mr Virgin to make a fresh application for an exemption in light of new Government guidance on the use of multi-purpose vehicles as taxis.

Government Ministers had since advised local authorities not to automatically rule out the use of such vehicles and stated there was “no real justification” to force taxi drivers to remove seats from their vehicles to comply with local policies.

On Monday, Mr Virgin applied again for exemption from the seating rule and won an apology as well as permission to put the missing seat back in his vehicle.

Committee member Cllr Eddie May said: “At the beginning we were at fault and we caused this gentleman a lot of hassle in various ways.

“With the seat back in it will be far safer then with it taken out.”

Mr Virgin estimated he had lost around £5,000 in trade following the council’s original decision and the removal of the seat had caused nothing but trouble.

Cllr David Sanders added: “This vehicle was manufactured as a seven-seater private vehicle and was deemed to be safe. I can’t see why when you use this vehicle as a taxi it’s no longer safe. It’s illogical to me.”

He said the council’s regulations were ambiguous, while Cllr Richard Lillis said he was concerned a licence had been issued in the first place for a vehicle which apparently did not comply with the council’s policies.

“Surely the people who are regulating should know what they are regulating?” he said.

Council chairman Cllr Tony Knight said Mr Virgin had been caught out by circumstances and described him as “respectable and conscientious”.

“You go round so many other places and see so many of these vehicles in operation with seven seats,” he said. “I know the removal of the seat has caused serious problems.

“It’s a proper business venture and we should support him and let him put the seat back.”

The committee agreed and went against the officer’s advice and granted Mr Virgin an exemption - on condition any replacement vehicle fully complied with the regulations in force at the time.

Ian Timms, the council’s housing and community manager, said the regulations would now need to be reviewed in light of the Government advice and the committee agreed to set up a review panel.

Mr Virgin was one of a handful of applicants who did battle with the council’s licensing committee last year in a bid to win exemptions for their seven-seater vehicles.

Just a month after making Mr Virgin remove a seat from his Tourneo, the committee did the same thing to Adrian Fish of Williton’s Eurocars.

But he later claimed a victory for “common sense” after forcing the council into a climbdown by threatening legal action.

He claimed the licensing committee’s decision to make him take a seat out of his Mitsubishi Grandis would cost him thousands of pounds in lost bookings. And after taking legal advice, he took his case to Taunton Deane Magistrates Court on the grounds the committee’s decision was “manifestly unfair, wrong in law and a disproportionate and unnecessary interference” with his property, contrary to the Human Rights Act.

Ten days before the case was due to be heard, the licensing committee was reconvened and advised by the council’s solicitors that its original ruling was “unsafe”.

Councillors met behind closed doors and decided he would not have to remove a seat after all.

http://www.west-somerset-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=29088

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I wonder what they will do if he get an 8 seat Tourneo next time??????????

Who was it on here that had to take a seat out of a Galaxy??or Sheran, they should also complain

Skippy, if you read the story closely you will see that if he buys a vehicle that does not comply with the policy in force at that time, it won't get a license. The problem here was that they gave him the license and then took it away.

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Grandad,

Have I read on here a few times that 'councils know best'?

How on earth did we get to a stage where no-nothing councillors and low paid LOs decided they were more clued up on vehicle safety issues than the makers or VOSA?

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IDFIMH

Our council accepts that if a vehicle passes its M1 certification it is valid for plating

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

It just goes to show some councils go at it like a bull in a china shop, without knowing the law
There is nothing to stop an owner buying the vehicle of there choice if there are no restrictions on vehicle type, like in non WAV areas

When I worked under Newport LA they did exactly the same.

I purchased a London style TX1 with six seats of which they duly licensed, six months down the line claimed that they had made a mistake and told all the drivers that they were not allowed to use the front seat and replaced our plates denoting 5 passengers only. I went before the committee to plead my case, but they would not have it.

The daft thing was that they still allowed us to have the front seat in the cab, so out of sheer (f*%k you all) I still allowed passengers to travel in the front seat as I was still complying with my plate.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.