Taxi Driver Online

The end is nigh for us drivers anyway - humans. Just had a look at Inshur's Policy wording and they have a separate section for autonomous vehicles lol. I think there are bigger issues for the dinosaurs that claim cross border hiring is the killer in the trade (not for the customer though).

There was a post on some Blackpool Business Page that caught over 1,500 comments, a huge reaction. Although the majority were positives from the public saying Uber is a great choice, the rest were disgruntled Blackpool hackneys claiming it's illegal, drivers are uninsured...one of them has devoted his life on driving them out of town by helping Police and Local Enforcement; yet every case he's shown were nothing related to Uber's being uninsured for working out of their council district/area. Those that have been done were simply violating standard PH policy, i.e. parked on ranks, no insurance regardless for PH anyway only personal, loading too many passengers 5 or more in a 4 licensed vehicle...

I don't think there will be a law change to define it being illegal - it's here to stay now that autonomous vehicles are to be tested in 2026. I mean that'll be the ultimate finisher for everyone since there will be no boundaries, they'll pick up and drop off wherever - which is already being done right now. Why displace customers from getting a cab just to please the small minority of drivers?

The issue around here is not with the UBER drivers working on the UBER platform (other platforms are available) but with them accepting bookings off the street and giving out their personal numbers for customers to ring them direct and not go through the operator.

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Grandad,

Uber drivers are standing for hire in our local taxi ranks.

They move on when asked, usually, but not always. The mentality seems to be that anything goes when you are trying to 'feed your family.' Local HC drivers challenging them have been subjected to threats, accusations of 'racism', even when the local driver objecting to their illegal activities is also of Asian origin, and of being 'snitches.'

In my view, the main issue isn't actually plying or standing for hire, it is the crossborder/remote licensing aspect.

Whilst James Button of the Institute of Licensing (I am a member, and I regularly attend their conferences) maintains that working crossborder is legal, the fact is that section 75 (1) (a) of the LGMPA 1976 remains on the statute, and has not been repealed, unlike 75 (1) (b), which was repealed with the passage of the Road Safety Act 2006. It is therefore still in force, if not actually enforced.

Mr Button regards 75 (1) (a) as an irrelevance. I disagree, and section 11 of the Deregulation Act 2015 does not change that. Whilst an operator may subcontract a booking to another in another district, this does not give the second operator the legal.right to have their vehicles waiting in the district of the first operator to.accept subcontracted bookings.

This is a moot point where Uber is concerned anyway, given that when an Uber driver accept a trip when in another district from the one in which they are licensed, it is deemed that the trip (booking).was accepted by the operator licensed in the same remote authority as the vehicle and driver.

In my view, if a remotely-licensed Uber is visibly available on the app, an offence is committed contrary to section 75 (1) (a). In this respect, Reading v Ali is irrelevant, as this case was not about availability contrary to 75 (1) (a), but about standing for hire contrary to the TPCA 1847.

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Steve.

Standing for hire on a rank by an unlicsensed vehicle in the area is obviously an offence

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

That is not in dispute, but if the crossborder issue were resolved, it would likely not happen.

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Steve.

Its always going to happen my friend

Unless there's a national license

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

They only stand for hire out of area in the absence of bookings there at the time. If there was no possibility of bookings to accept there at any time, they would not be there in the first place.

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Steve.

enforcement?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

If you read my article in the July issue of PHTM, I explain why a national licence is both unfeasible and unnecessary.

It's a long article...

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Steve.

Lack of resources and inclination.. We are regularly reporting offenders to the Licensing Manager at Wolves council, with photographic or even video evidence.

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Steve.

This was my argument initally, basically Wolves are wanting your area to pay for their enforcement

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

We, as a trade, are paying with our own time and resources

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Steve.

That was an issue in B&H, but the local trade put a lot of pressure on the council to require Uber to do something about it.

Along the lines of how can a 'fit and proper' operator allow PH vehicles on their circuit to take work while sitting on a rank?

Uber then geo-fenced all the ranks in B&H and the problem disappeared.

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IDFIMH

Then sussex has provided the answer, why don't you ask your council to do what Brighton did?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

You may have an arguable point, but there is no way this will ever reach a court.

Even if it did, I believe there is no way a court would agree, and even if the court did, and following numerous appeals it became law I'm 100% certain the government would change the law.

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IDFIMH