Taxi Driver Online

Think we missed this last month, and I only noticed it via PHM magazine.

Cabbie forced to hand back plates after husband dies



A GRIEVING cab driver has attacked council bureaucrats because she was forced to hand back her taxi licence after her husband - and fellow driver - died suddenly.

Supee Juachan, 50, from Benfleet, and her late husband Phillip, were both ABC taxi drivers for the Castle Point area.

Phillip owned both the cars and the licenses but Supee was allowed to use them to carry passengers herself.

Phillip died last month having suffered from an undetected cancer and Supee says she was left shocked at how she was treated by Castle Point Council’s licensing department when she informed them of the death.

She said: “I went down there straight away to inform them and they waited until I had left, then called me 20 minutes later to say they need to take the plates back and I’m no longer allowed to be a taxi driver. It’s dreadful.

“The council never said sorry for my loss or offered any extra time. We owe the bank thousands now and even they have been understanding and given me some time to get things together after Phillip’s death.

“The council has not been understanding at all. They don’t care about my loss or my job. They don’t care about how I earn my living, it’s ridiculous.”

Supee described Phillip - who had worked as a taxi driver for ten years - as the heart of the community and a man who would do anything for his customers and for someone in need of his help.

The widow added: “I became a taxi driver around three years ago because of Phil. I still have a valid badge. “I [have] put a complaint into the council to just be told the same thing. I’ve even been told to just sign on to Universal Credit. It’s just cold-hearted.”

A spokesman for Castle Point Council said: “The council recognises that circumstances are extremely distressing but as notified to the lady’s solicitor the council must act in accordance with the approved conditions and regulations which relate to Hackney Carriages and Private Hire Vehicles and is unable to make exceptions in individual cases notwithstanding the particular and personal loss which has been suffered.”

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IDFIMH

Got to be one of the dirtiest scummiest thing I've ever seen a council do.

The poor fella is still warm and the council want to cause his wife grief and financial hardship.

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IDFIMH

Why was she not named on the licence jointly? Sorry for her plight, but it would’ve saved all this heartache.

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Former taxi driver

maybe her husband didn't realise that there would be this grief many people wrongly assume they don't need to do things like that.

If she has a drivers license though surely they could allow her to transfer the vehicle into her own name ?

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

Indeed, but I suspect he didn't envisage dying so soon.

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IDFIMH

Wonder if the plates had expired if not the Council should honour the license which would give her time to transfer them into her name.

Doubt if the fact she has a badge is relevant - I'm assuming they're HC plates in a restricted area, and the rules state that they have to be handed back if the licence holder dies.

Yes, we've discussed this in the past few months, albeit in the context of PH ops licences, as I recall it.

But my general understanding was that a licence would remain in force on death until the executor dealt with the deceased's estate, in this case presumably transferring the licence to his surviving spouse. Indeed, I think that's written in to the Scottish legislation.

But presumably the rules here state that on death the licence is effectively revoked.