Taxi Driver Online

King’s Lynn: Taxi driver booked for stopping in rank


A TAXI driver claims he was fined for parking in a rank after he walked away from his cab to see a disabled customer to the other side of the road.


Then when Colin Wells, of Smith Avenue, North Lynn, wrote to West Norfolk Council to appeal the fine he got slapped with four points on his Hackney Carriage licence.

West Norfolk Council claims it has CCTV evidence that Mr Wells’ vehicle was unattended in the rank in Blackfriars Street, Lynn, for 20 minutes and a witness, who said he parked there for half-an-hour and often does it, which Mr Wells denies. He said: “I think the council are just being little Hitlers.”

Mr Wells, who has been driving cabs for eight years, said he was waiting for his disabled customer to find her purse to pay her fare when he saw the warden arrive and begin producing a ticket.

He explained himself but was still given the ticket and after appealing against the fine in writing was informed he would get points too.

If cabbies get 12 points in a year they can have to face a panel over their suitability to hold the licence.

Mr Wells said: “I am a taxi driver and have every right to stop in the rank. Lorries stop there to deliver stuff every day and a blind eye is turned to that and when the fairground is here they plonk stalls on our rank in Tuesday Market Place for ten to 14 days which means we can’t pick up from The Globe – and that personally costs me more than £100 a week.

“Because I queried the fine, the next thing I know I’ve acquired four points!”

Martin Chisholm, of West Norfolk Council, said: “The council deals with any challenge to a parking ticket based on individual matters.

“This case has been considered based on the facts the motorist presented to us and I believe it has been judged reasonably based on that information.

“If the motorist believes the council has failed to consider an appropriate challenge to his parking ticket there are within law other opportunities for him to challenge this ticket to a higher authority.”

He added: “We regularly book delivery vehicles parked on taxi ranks.”

Mr Chisholm said Mr Wells’ own letter alerted licensing officers to his offence and they issued the standard penalty of four points for leaving a vehicle unattended on a rank.

source: http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/

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

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IDFIMH

CCTV evidence in todays world you dont need any other evidence the camara never lies well sometimes it does a little bit

This is quite common there are a few drivers who take the mickey a bit round here 20 to 30 minutes parked up whilst they have a coffee break in fact I saw one of my drivers parked on the end of the rank earlier this week whilst he was on his lunch break ! would have served him right if he'd got a ticket

There is probably a bit more to this than has been written maybe a few complaints about a driver who does it a bit too often

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

62 Penalties in case of carriages being unattended at places of public resort
If the driver of any such hackney carriage leave it in any street or at any place of public resort or entertainment, whether it be hired or not, without some one proper to take care of it, any constable may drive away such hackney carriage and deposit it, and the horse or horses harnessed thereto, at some neighbouring livery stable or other place of safe custody; and such driver shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [level 1 on the standard scale] for such offence; and in default of payment of the said penalty upon conviction, and of the expences of taking and keeping the said hackney carriage and horse or horses, the same, together with the harness belonging thereto, or any of them, shall be sold by order of the justice before whom such conviction is made, and after deducting from the produce of such sale the amount of the said penalty, and of all costs and expences, as well of the proceedings before such justice as of the taking, keeping, and sale of the said hackney carriage, and of the said horse or horses and harness, the surplus (if any) of the said produce shall be paid to the proprietor of such hackney carriage.
Amendment
Maximum penalty increased by the Criminal Law Act 197 7, s 31 (6), and converted to a level on the standard scale by the Criminal Justice Act 1982, ss 37,46.

So unless this chap has been booked via section 62 the parking ticket wont stand?

CC

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

sorry to sound a bit dim but to which act are we referring or is this the London rules which may not have been adopted by Kings lynn

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

Town Police Clauses Act 1847.

CC

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

I found the laws on this site I came across a while back.

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/?page_id=337

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IDFIMH

So is this illigal
Parked at the back of the rank decide to have chat with driver in front of me but every time rank moves i get back into my cab and move up the rank then get back out and chat to another driver?
Or do i have to be in my cab at all times?

You don't have to be in your cab for it to be attended. The law dates back to the days of horses. It's so the horse doesn't wander off on it's own

These days it's to stop selfish pricks taking up rank space when they're not actually available for hire.
Ranks aren't a taxi driver's private car park.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

There was a guy round here who went to the toilet in Wetherspoons the other week. He left the car on the rank unattended, the next day he got a come on down from the LO at the Council who tore a strip off him. Obviously when he came back she was all the barstewards under the sun and proceeded to tell all the other drivers how hard he'd been treated by the council. I then told them that it states in the Town Police Clauses Act that you're not supposed to leave a Hackney Carriage unattended on a rank.

He soon shut up.

The case of Attridge and another – v – Attwood[1964] Crim LR 45 where a taxi driver left his taxi in the street locked, and went into a nearby office with the vehicle in constant view. The High Court held that the Justices had properly convicted him of the offence of leaving the taxi in the street without someone proper to take care of it under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Although the wording of the provision here is, of course,
different the ambit of the words “take care of” is rather wider than the concept of attendance; and it seems to me to follow that if a driver is not “taking care” of his vehicle in this situation he could hardly be said to be attending it.

Attridge V Attwood [R v Plymouth CC ex parte Attridge]

01 January 1964

Case Analysis

[1964] Crim. L.R. 45

Subject: Road traffic

Offences; Parking; Taxis

Taxicabs; leaving in street without proper care

The defendant left his taxi-cab with the engine switched off and handbrake applied, and went into a nearby office. He was convicted by justices of leaving the cab in a street without someone proper to take care of it, contrary to the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 s.62 . On his appeal, the contention that s.62 of the Act applied only to horse-drawn vehicles was abandoned. The Divisional Court, dismissing the appeal, held that the question whether the defendant had taken sufficient precautions to satisfy the requirements of s.62 of the Act was one of degree and fact for the justices.

Legislation Cited

Town Police Clauses Act 1847 s.62.[/i]

Levinson v Powell LHCA 1853 [1967] 3 All ER 796

PARKING OFFENCE- CAB LEFT UNATTENDED DELIVERING PARCEL

A cab was a dual purpose and not a "goods vehicle" and could not therefore avail itself of an exemption for goods vehicles loading and unloading


ROGERS v TAYLOR (1987) DC

TAXIS : TAXI STAND

Appeal by hackney carriage driver against conviction for leaving his cab unattended and locked on a hackney carriage stand

Appeal by hackney carriage driver against conviction for contravention of a Waitings Regulations Order made under Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 by leaving his cab unattended and locked on a hackney carriage stand.

HELD: The **exception** for hackney carriage only applied to those which were waiting for fares. Appeal dismissed.

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

More like this section won't apply to the aggrieved because he had no horses attached to his hackney carriage!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

See Attridge vs. Attwood above.

CC

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