From Private Hire News; Issue 54, Summer 2011, Page 52
The news magazine of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association incorporating the London Private Hire Car Association
Mayor calls for tougher penalties, including vehicle confiscation, sale or crushing!
London Mayor Boris Johnson has written to Secretary of State at the Home Office the Rt Hon Theresa May MP to seek her support in helping to address the serious problems of illegal touting in London asking for the introduction of tougher sanctions against those that continue Rout the Tout to commit offences.
I raised these issues with the former Government and despite them providing initial support for new stronger measures to help tackle this dangerous activity I am afraid very little progress was made.
Despite significant progress over recent years illegal cabs who ‘tout’ for business on the street remain a serious problem in the Capital and are a highly under-rated menace and danger to the travelling public in London. These ‘cabs’ are unregulated and uninsured for the purposes of carrying passengers and in some cases are linked to more serious crimes including rape, robbery, weapons and drugs. In 2009/10, there were 143 reported cab-related sexual offences, 24 of these were rapes. I am sure you will agree that together we must pursue every possible option in order to rid our streets of such heinous crimes.
As Mayor of London I have made it a priority to eradicate illegal cab activity from the Capital. I have introduced a number of measures to ensure that touting is dealt with more robustly. I have doubled the number of police officers dedicated to tackling illegal cabs in London and have overseen significant improvement in the availability of reliable and legitimate travel options through Transport for London’s effective approach to the licensing and regulation of the taxi and private hire industry. In 2006, I introduced tougher regulatory penalties for any licensed private hire vehicle driver convicted of touting and to date over 400 licensed PHV drivers convicted of or cautioned for touting have had their PHV licenses revoked for a minimum of one year.
Yet despite this, in many instances, these drivers merely return to the streets unlicensed.
The MPS Safer Transport Command’s cab enforcement unit has made over 6,000 arrests for touting and dealt with another 2,000 offences by way of summons since its inception in 2003.
However, it is galling that the vast majority of these cases have gone to Magistrates Courts resulting in derisory fines of £135. I am sure that you will agree with me that this average penalty is far too low for what is a serious offence. I, along with TfL, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and City of London Police (COLP) are united in our belief that a number of further measures would greatly assist in tackling this problem.
• Increasing the penalties for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences including fines and immediate driver licence disqualification following conviction or caution for touting.
• Powers to seize and dispose of vehicles used in touting and unlawful plying for hire offences.
• Clearer legal definitions for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences to improve regulation and enforcement.
These concerns are shared by the licensed taxi and PHV trades as illegal cab activity not only poses a risk to the travelling public but also presents a real economic threat to the licensed taxi and private hire industry. Both industries face significant investment and overheads to trade as a licensed service. Touts and illegal clipboard operators operating outside major venues intercept their customers and represent unfair - and unsustainable - competition. We are working closely with the trades to help preserve their high safety and professional standards and protect their legitimate business but more needs to be done to deter illegal activity.
With the Olympics fast approaching the efforts to deal with these issues are becoming increasingly important. Millions of visitors to London, most of whom will be unfamiliar with taxi and private hire laws and the risks posed by illegal cabs, could be put at risk.
I believe the above measures will assist in delivering more effective enforcement against perpetrators and will create a safer environment for London. My office has provided further detail on the proposals should it be required. (Below)
I ask for your commitment to work with us to introduce these measures at the earliest legislative opportunity. TfL officials will take this forward with the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Department for Transport. If you could identify the appropriate lead in the Home Office I will ask TfL to make contact in order to discuss this further.
Yours ever,
Boris Johnson
Mayor of London
Increasing penalties for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences
Penalties for touting need to be increased to provide an effective deterrent to perpetrators. The average fine for taxi touting is a paltry £135, which is in contrast to the potential illegal earnings in this area of over £1000 a week. Many drivers are back out on the street committing the same offences soon after court undermining the significant investment and resources allocated to this issue. Magistrates Court Sentencing guidelines were revised to include guidance on taxi touting offences and reissued in 2008 but no significant improvements have yet been noticed in the level of penalties imposed at court.
The Mayor, TfL and the Police would like to see automatic driver licence disqualification (for at least three months) introduced for those that are found guilty of or are cautioned for touting (which would also include no insurance). This would help to emphasise the seriousness of the offence and act as a more effective deterrent to perpetrators of these offences.
Powers to seize and dispose of vehicles used for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences
The seizure and disposal of vehicles used by touts is potentially a more effective deterrent to touting than the current penalty regime. Magistrates have the power to consider deprivation of offenders’ property used unlawfully in the perpetration of an offence. However, such consideration can only be taken where the primary offence has a custodial consequence, which does not currently apply to the offence of touting. I am convinced that without the power to seize and dispose of vehicles used to perpetrate these offences compounded by the low level of fines currently being imposed by courts our ability to eradicate this problem from our streets will be limited.
The Mayor, TfL and the police are seeking support in identifying appropriate legislative routes to seize and dispose of (by means of crushing or sale) vehicles used for the purposes of private hire and taxi touting. While the police do occasionally use Section 165A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) to seize motor vehicles being driven without insurance or without a valid driving licence, those powers do not extend to seizing vehicles driven on a public road without a valid hire and reward insurance (made compulsory for hire and reward licensing by licensing authorities), as the only compulsory insurance remains the third party risk insurance.
For this reason, there is currently no other legislation likely to assist with my objective of confiscating vehicles used in the perpetration of these offences.
Clearer definitions and penalties for touting and unlawful plying for hire offences
The legislation relating to taxis and private hire vehicles is complex. It is clear that some confusion exists around what constitutes illegal cab operators and how they operate in London. TfL, MPS and COLP would welcome the opportunity to explore how together we can improve the regulation of this sector as part of these discussions.
Clarity around what constitutes touting and plying for hire and associated activities by those individuals taking bookings on the street is needed. The lack of clarity in this area has contributed to the cases being dismissed at court. Section 167 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 makes it an offence “in a public place, to solicit persons to hire vehicles to carry them as passengers”. The Mayor, TfL and the police would welcome an amendment to this provision to clarify that it is intended to apply to the type of activities undertaken by clipboard operators.
We would also like to see the offence of unlawful plying for hire, which typically involves drivers waiting in or by cars for members of the public to approach them rather than actively touting brought into line with touting offences.
Unlawful plying for hire offences should be made a comparable recordable offence and be subject to the same level of penalties.
Source; http://www.lphca.co.uk/ph_news.html