Taxi Driver Online

What the West Midlands police say

What is plying for hire?
Plying for hire is when a driver takes an unbooked journey for payment which could make the driver’s insurance policy invalid.

Only Hackney Carriage vehicles can take fares without being booked in advance provided they are working within their own licensed district. Hackney Carriages can legally work anywhere in the country but once outside of their licensed district they can only take booked journeys via a private hire company.

Maybe I'm missing something, but section 17 of the 1976 Act is titled 'Bylaws about bathing and boating'.

So you'll have to explain the relevance

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/57/section/17

It was my mistake,
Section 67 it is.

67 Hackney carriages used for private hire.

(1) No hackney carriage shall be used in the district under a contract or purported contract for private hire except at a rate of fares or charges not greater than that fixed by the byelaws or tables mentioned in section 66 of this Act, and, when any such hackney carriage is so used, the fare or charge shall be calculated from the point in the district at which the hirer commences his journey.

(2) Any person who knowingly contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) In subsection (1) of this section “contract” means—

(a) a contract made otherwise than while the relevant hackney carriage is plying for hire in the district or waiting at a place in the district which, when the contract is made, is a stand for hackney carriages appointed by the district council under section 63 of this Act; and

(b) a contract made, otherwise than with or through the driver of the relevant hackney carriage, while it is so plying or waiting.



So that's saying that an HC doing pre-booked work in its licensing area has to stick to the regulated tariff? Wasn't aware of that section, but makes sense really, although how in practical terms the fare-setting process works when taking pre-bookings *out of area* would be interesting to know.

But the section isn't really relevant to how the booking process works for HCs working out-of-area.

Don't think that's right - the booked journeys can come from anywhere, and there's no need for the booking process to be regulated, although in practice the work could well come from a source that happens to be a private hire operator.

Guessing you mean section 67.

If so that only relates to the fare, not to the booking process.

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IDFIMH