Taxi Driver Online

Police seize van they suspect 'being used as taxi'



A VAN which police suspect was being used as an unofficial taxi has been seized.

Brierley Hill Police stopped the vehicle while they were on patrol yesterday (Friday November 29) and found the driver had no insurance.

They said they seized the van and are making enquiries with the council.

They posted on X: "We suspect it was being used as an unofficial taxi, the driver had no insurance either.

"We have seized the vehicle and will be making enquiries with the licensing department at the local council.

"Driver has been reported to court."

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IDFIMH

Excellent news, another illegal minibus off the road.

Is this a common thing in West Mids?

I would say illegal taxi/PH minibuses i.e. unlicensed transport, is quite common throughout the country.

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IDFIMH

As in hire-and-reward, driver and passengers not known to each other?

Can't say I've heard of it much up here.

Of course, I think we've still got the 24-hour contract exemption up here. And, as you'll be aware Mr XH588, that allows a lot of chauffeur drive/airport transfer/tour operators and similar to operate without a PHV or HC licence

But down south there's no similar exemption, so to that extent there's a sector down there which may be open to abuse but which just can't happen up here because it's unregulated...

On the other hand, the type of thing portrayed in the article is likely to be a bit more, er, downmarket than the type of stuff that tends to run unlicensed in Scotland.

But there's also a fair bit of abuse of the exemption up here, and it's a grey area that's difficult to monitor and enforce. So to that extent any illegality up here may be a bit closer to what's portrayed in the photograph, but it'll be more open and shut in terms of evidence and proof when it happens down there as opposed to up here