Taxi Driver Online

all i have seen is Andy Burnham mention something about it a few months ago ,something along the lines a Labour government would look into cross border hiring issue,but as he is not a Mp and in a position to really do anything ,i took it with a pinch of salt

I have seen a little more

If the only local authority that issued private hire licences was the principal authority, there is an immediate and automatic private hire industry controlled by the same (effectively national) standards.
Obviously, this would require significant co-operation between every local authority, but that could be co-ordinated by the Local Government Association (LGA). It would require local authorities to relinquish their control over PH licensees, but as will be seen, that would be outweighed by national safety standards and the removal of a local authority's requirements being undermined by other PHDs and PHVs.
It would also require the principal authority to accept this responsibility and expand its licensing operation accordingly.

TaxoPoint website has an article discussing what the new Labour government could/might do.

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/cross ... government

My personal view is that nothing will change in the next parliament.

Truth is, in the grand scale of things, we really aren't as important as we all think we are.

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IDFIMH

Oh-aye, let's get the fleet holders running a hundred cars, and people living abroad controlling them to the exclusion of drivers who only want their own plate, and all that kind of malarkey, to 'protect workers' rights and 'ensure fair competition'.

A mad-cap idea

And if anyone isn't aware, MCF is quoting from an article in Professional Driver Mag about a plan licensing solicitor James Button has to solve the cross-border issue without changing the legislation

Quite a clever argument, but would depend on 300+ local authorities getting together and deciding that one of them should in effect become a national licensing authority for PHVs

Chances of that happening? - zero would be a fair approximation, I'd guess

I mean, they couldn't even agree a common standard in the likes of Greater Manchester, so what chances the whole country?

And even if they got 90% of them on board, there would always be other authorities who would see the opportunity to become the next Wolves if the chosen authority decided to up the quality barriers a bit. Or if the chosen authority was bottom-of-the-barrel standards-wise, there would be plenty of authorities who wouldn't play ball with that.

And then there's the whole complexity of the enforcement issue etc.

So it's pie-in-the-sky, basically

Assuming this link works, the article is on pages 12 and 13:

https://www.prodrivermags.com/issue/pro ... june-2024/

And the basic contradiction and political/practical difficulty with James Button's plan is encapsualeted here - compare what's said in the first paragraph with what's said in the third

It would leave Plymouth out in the cold. Can't see a '76 Act PHV/Operator being able to Run/Operate in the '75 Act Area.

For the same reason, Plymouth would be out of the running to be the providing Authority.

A final point, License Fees are "ring fenced". Monies raised can only be used for the Licensing function. An Authority can choose to subsidise, but it can't cream monies of to add to the General Rate.

Academic really. It just ain't gonna happen.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

I've always thought that the best solution would be licensing done Nationally (by a government agency) and enforcement locally which removes all inter council arguments and puts people on a much more equal basis.

Councils trying to cooperate is often a recipe for disaster.

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

In theory not in practice surely ?

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

Yes, the bit about the financing just didn't seem to ring true, at least in the grand scheme of things:

.
So if you look at it in the context of local authorities as a whole, it's a non-runner in terms of an argument. But it's a slightly more compelling point maybe in the context of empire-building licensing departments, as is ably demonstrated by Wolverhampton.

Maybe, for example, a bigger empire means bigger salaries for some, and bragging rights in terms of the municipal ego

But in terms of local government financing in the round, it's an irrelevance, as per what Chris says.

And to a degree that may simply be a theoretical argument for some authorities, Edders, but once you get to the likes of the Wolverhampton model in terms of scale, I doubt they'd get away with it.

(And can't be bothered looking back, but pretty sure there's been mention of the financials in some of the official Wolves stuff. And if they are making a surplus for the authority there, it's certainly not because of the high fees )