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£400000 SCANDAL OF TAXI CASE
12:00 - 17 September 2004
Plymouth's council tax payers could face a legal bill of up to £400,000 after Plymouth City Council became embroiled in a bitter legal battle between rival taxi firms - and lost. A crown court judge yesterday dramatically threw out the council's case that the boss of private hire firm Silverline, Lawrence Brown, should be refused a licence.
It brought to an end a bitter dispute lasting more than a year which was sparked by a rival firm's objection to Mr Brown's licence application.
The council now faces a potential £250,000 claim for damaging the firm's business, plus £70,000 for Silverline's court costs. The council's own costs, estimated to be tens of thousands of pounds, could bring the total bill for council tax payers to £400,000.
After the hearing Silverline boss Laurence Brown said he was happy and relieved that he had won his appeal against a council licensing committee decision in April 2003 not to grant him an operator's licence.
His solicitor Michael Hayman criticised the council for wasting public money on a row he claimed was sparked by a 'turf war' initiated by a rival private hire operator.
Judge Francis Gilbert stopped the case early saying the council had 'not provided any evidence' against Mr Brown.
The council's licensing committee had refused to grant a licence because they believed Mr Brown was just a front man for Leslie Palmer, Silverline's former owner, who himself was refused a licence in 1997.
But Judge Gilbert said: "Having considered the evidence provided by Plymouth City Council, there is no evidence that any member of the public has been harmed or jeopardised in any way since 1997.
"There is no evidence that he (Mr Brown) has failed to keep any records required by the act. And there is no evidence of any defect in his record keeping.
"The council has failed to make out their case, failed to discharge the burden upon them and therefore we allow the appeal."
Outside court, Mr Brown said he had been vindicated by the decision and was now preparing to take legal action against the city council.
He had fought for his business at the licensing committee, then at an appeal hearing before Plymouth magistrates - which he lost - before yesterday's final victory at the city's crown court.
He said he wanted to recover his legal costs and wanted compensation for the many customers - and half his drivers - he had lost, he claimed, due to the council's actions.
Mr Brown's solicitor, Michael Hayman, said: "The claim against the city council will be in the region of £250,000 and then there are the costs.
"There are the costs from the magistrates and crown court hearings and the costs of accountants for those is simply breathtaking.
"Our own legal costs are in the region of £60,000 to £70,000."
Mr Brown said he was a happy and relieved man after yesterday's hearing and told the Herald of his gratitude to those drivers and customers who had stood by the company.
"I am still here, I am still the operator and I might be for the next 20 years," he said.
"We will be making a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman and to the district auditor about the council.
"The main thing is that it is costing the people of Plymouth a lot of money for nothing."
A Plymouth City Council spokesman said it was considering what action it would take following the judgment.
The spokesman said: "We are considering the judgement and we have not yet decided what steps, if any, we will take next."
During the hearing the court was told the council's case was that Leslie Palmer, rather than Mr Brown, was the man behind Silverline.
The court was told Mr Palmer, the former owner of Silverline, lost his operator's licence in 1997 when the council decided he was not a 'fit and proper' person to run a taxi firm. The overall running of the firm was taken over by Mr Brown and later former fellow-director Peter Langmead.
Mr Langmead has since resigned from his post and the council claimed that Mr Brown was not in control and that it has been Mr Palmer running the firm.
This was denied by Mr Brown, who said he was in control but would sometimes seek advice from Mr Palmer, who still worked for the company.
In his summing up of the case, Judge Gilbert explained that the job of the operator was to keep records of the bookings and keep records of the vehicle licenses and said he had seen nothing to prove Mr Brown had not been doing it properly.
The saga began when Mr Brown's original licence renewal application was the subject of objections by rival operators, Taxifast and its parent company Key Cabs.
Managing director of Key Cabs John Preece and Mr Brown both hired barristers to put their cases before a five-day special hearing of then Tory-run Plymouth City Council licensing committee in April 2003.
The licensing committee found that Mr Brown and his then partner Peter Langmead were not 'fit and proper people' to run the company, based on their finding that Mr Palmer was actually running the company.
Announcing the committee's decision, its chairman Cllr Tom Savery then went on to dismiss Mr Preece's claim he was objecting out of concern for public safety and accused Mr Preece of distributing 'propaganda', containing 'unsubstantiated allegations' about Silverline and Mr Palmer, in a newsletter. But Mr Preece insisted after the hearing that he had been acting in the interests of all taxi operators. He was today unavailable for comment.
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