Taxi Driver Online

THE LAW COMMISSION’S VIEW OF ITS “TAXI” REMIT:

TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES – REGULATION

The Law Commission has published its current programme – this what the programme outlines for taxis:

See

http://www.justice.gov.uk/lawcommission ... s/1537.htm

Page 24 contains the following:

2.107 Taxi-cabs (“hackney carriages”) are a highly regulated market, and have been since Victorian times (or earlier – some controls were first imposed under the Stuarts). Private hire vehicles have been regulated since the 1970s. There are distinct legal systems for London, Plymouth and the rest of England and Wales; and different systems for taxi-cabs and private hire vehicles. Outside London, local authorities are the licensing authorities for both taxi-cabs and private hire vehicles. In London, licensing is now the responsibility of Transport for London.

Licensing authorities regulate the quantity of taxi-cabs and the fares they can
charge, and, for both taxi-cabs and private hire vehicles, the quality of services, including the safety of vehicles and the fitness of drivers. Drivers and vehicles must be licensed, and, in respect of private hire vehicles, there must also be a licensed operator.

2.108 The first level of reform would be to reduce the sheer bulk, complexity and inconsistency of the regulatory systems. Central concepts like “plying for hire” have caused considerable problems in the past. There are pointless geographical inconsistencies on such matters as whether a taxi-cab driver needs a separate private hire licence, and whether the vehicle can be used for leisure purposes by its owner/driver. Secondly, there is a need to modernise to reflect technological change – private hire licensing, for instance, is posited on a geographically fixed operator with premises where bookings are made. Finally, the fundamental features of the regulatory system are in need of reconsideration – the separate systems for taxi-cabs and private hire vehicles, the identity of the licensing authorities, the number and nature of licenses and whether all forms of regulation are still necessary.

2.109 This project engages economic and regulatory theory. It will be fundamentally deregulatory, in the sense that it will seek to question the necessity for the various strands of the current regulatory regime, and seek to reformulate those that are necessary in the light of modern understandings of the most efficient and efficacious forms of regulation.

2.110 The taxi and private hire vehicle market had an annual turnover of above £2.2 billion in 2003. It is likely that a modernised and simplified system of licensing will reduce the costs of the licensing system to both local authorities and market participants themselves. However, the realisation of these potential savings would depend on decisions to be taken on the key regulation reform issues which will constitute the substance of the project.

2.111 We expect the project to take three years, with a consultation period in the second half of 2012.

2.112 The project will require close working with the Welsh Government, which is responsible for local government generally and for transport facilities.

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=14

I would be more confident if the new Cab Act was in the Law Commission's next programme of legislative review starting after 2015, which will be their 12th such programme.

Instead proposals for the overhaul of our trade's laws and the introduction of new legislation will be formulated in the current review of legislation, which is the Law Commission's 11th such programme.

It would have been nice if the trade's legislation was being reviewed in the full dozen programme of legislative reform!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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