Harsh, but fair, I suppose - no point having an age rule if individuals can just cite individual circumstances for not adhering to the age rule - where would it end?
High Court judge backs Hertfordshire's council’s refusal of taxi licence renewals
https://www.essexlive.news/news/local-n ... es-9840900
Six taxi drivers said the Covid-19 pandemic meant they should have received extensions to their licenses
A High Court judge has backed Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s refusal to renew the licenses of six taxi drivers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The drivers, whose renewal applications were rejected because their vehicles were more than eight years old, argued that the council should have made an exception to its policy because of the pandemic.
Their appeal against the council’s decision had been upheld by a district judge, leading the council to launch its own appeal at the High Court. The judge there, Mr Justice Linden, backed the council’s original decision, saying that the pandemic was not “in and of itself … capable of justifying an exception” to the rules.
He said a decision should have been made based on the “impact” of the pandemic on each driver rather than as a general ruling. Mr Justice Linden added that the original hearing should have been conducted based on whether the licenses should be extended at the time of the appeal in 2022 rather than considering whether they should have been extended at the time of the original decision to refuse them.
Originally, the district judge had said there were exceptional circumstances, which meant the council should have issued a one-year extension to the taxi drivers - who were able to continue driving their taxis pending their appeal. During the original court case, the drivers said they “could not afford” to replace their taxis at the time because “trade was very slow” and “there was no demand for taxis”. One said his income had fallen from £16,000 to £9,000.
But Mr Justice Linden suggested that the district judge’s ruling could logically mean that “anyone who was able to show that they could not afford a new vehicle could argue for an exception” and warned this could “risk inconsistent decision making and thereby undermine the policy of the council.”
He said there would have been a “fairness” issue with extending the licenses, given other drivers had spent money to go along with the council’s rules. A spokesperson for Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council said: “We are pleased with the High Court judgment which provides clarity on the application of the council’s policy on renewing taxi licenses.”
They added that the council is hoping to recover its legal costs from the respondents, who were the taxi drivers and West and Central Hertfordshire Magistrates Court.
