Taxi Driver Online

Alas, some LOs most favourite phrase.

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IDFIMH

Its about time the limo situation was tackle by the Police & Councils.

For too long they have shrugged their sholders when the issues brought up.

Edinburgh licenses them,
Glasgow say they cant because they dont have a suitable license to issue,
East Renfrewshire say you dont need one if you invoice the customer,
Inverclyde say they should be licensed as Private Hire,
Renfrewshire just ignore them

Recently the D of Transport have been stopping vehicles with tinted windows & checking them with light meters, who many limos have been stopped ?

The Civic Government Act Scotland quite clearing states the only exemptions are the ones already mentioned in the report, but theres also another one I cant quite understand, maybe readers can help ;

Nothing in sections 10 to 21 (with the exception of subsection (7) of section 21
of this Act shall--

(a) apply to a vehicle used for bringing passengers or goods within and
taking them out of an area in respect of which the vehicle is not licensed
as a taxi or a private hire car in pursuance of a contract for the hire of
the vehicle made outside the area if the vehicle is not made available for
hire within the area;

Cheers

For once I will have a small bit of sympathy for some LOs, but I have none for the likes of NATPHLEO and The Institute of Licensing.

The latter both know full well that Limos are a danger, and although they have strength in numbers and high level contacts, have ignored the current danger.

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IDFIMH

maybe its time for some taxi drivers or associates to hire a limo then put in a claim regarding drink glasses being thrown forward into the opposite passenger plus the obvious actions of not being seat belted (passenger behind driver goes head first into whoever is opposite)then see if its council or owner who foots the (id be looking for six figures ) sum....

This seems to just exempt from licensing vehicles licensed in another area that are doing 'out of area' work. Without this provision it could be argued that a Renfrewshire PH vehicle doing a pre-booked job from Glasgow (for example) would have to be licensed in Glasgow as well, but the wording of this section ensures that this is not required.

One of the main problems seems to be the 'contract hire' exemption which states:

"Nothing in...this Act shall:

Apply to any vehicle while it is being used for carrying passengers under a contract for its exclusive hire for a period of not less than 24 hours."

This seems to be how many chauffer drive ops and such like get round requiring licensing - basically, they just don't have more than one customer a day in their vehicle.

This provision also seems to be the source of the stuff about credit payments and the like, but I doubt if this is a correct interpretation of the Act.

For example, if I hired a vehicle exclusively to someone for a week and they paid cash for each journey then surely this would come within the exemption?

On the other hand, if I set up a mainstream PH operation doing only credit work then some would seem to be saying that this would not require licensing, but surely this was not what was inteneded by the Act.

One problems seems to be that there is no case law on how the section should be interpreted so the councils just make it up as they go along.

Some councils (as alluded to in your message) just seem to think that because some vehicles aren't doing what is obviously taxi/PH work then they shouldn't be licensed, but the Act was cleary not intended to allow councils what kind of vehicles they should and shouldn't license.

The Scottish Executive's licensing consultatation of last year seemed to say that councils just please themselves what they do with these matters, and the authors of the consultation gave the impression that they didn't know what was intended by the Act either.

But don't expect any decisive action from the Scottish Executive on this one - the consultation closed over a year and a half ago and there hasn't been a peep since.

The Frontline Scotland programme on Tuesday night was instructive - when the programme exposed the protection racket/cartel run by gangsters whoch control the Glasgow security industry the Executive had nothing to say about it.

Some of these people have also been linked to the Glasgow PH trade and the Executive have also been faffing around with licensing controls rooms for years.

So don't expect quick action on unlicensed limos and the like.

Down to the nitty gritty chaps,anyone running a business for hire and reward,should be licensed.
Never mind it was pre-booked,or invoices sent out,so no money has changed hands,b-ll-ck-,they should be plated.
There is also mini bus airport travel companies,sorry chancers,conveying
joe public to and from the airports,again they should be licensed to make sure they have proper insurance and service history,to make sure they are roadworthy.
Henny Henpecked.