Taxi Driver Online

Newport cabbies win review on 'old taxi' ruling

NEWPORT taxi drivers, unhappy about new rules on how old their cars should be, won the right to a judicial review yesterday. Newport city council introduced age restrictions on hackney and private hire vehicles earlier this year, which the council said were needed to ensure the safety of passengers.

Private hire vehicles being licensed for the first time can be no older than three years and three months, while hackney carriages can be no older than five years. Lionel Morris, chairman of the Newport Hackney Driver Association, decided to challenge the decision by applying for a judicial review.

The application was initially rejected, but yesterday Mr Justice Silber granted permission for a review at a hearing of the High Court of Justice Administrative Court, sitting in Cardiff.

Representing Mr Morris, Pushpinder Saini QC, told the hearing additional grounds for the review had come to light since the initial application was made. He said Cllr David Fouweather, Newport’s community safety cabinet member, who made the decision, had two siblings working as taxi drivers in Newport.

The court heard that although Cllr Fouweather mentioned the matter to other people at the council, he did not formally declare the fact, as is required by the Member’s code of conduct.

Mr Saini said the council cited public safety as a reason for introducing the age limits for vehicles, but the drivers suspected the decision was an attempt to smarten up the taxis in the run up to Newport playing host to the Ryder Cup next year.

He said the new regulations could lead many drivers to lose their livelihoods as they could not afford to replace their vehicles. Mr Justice Silber agreed a judicial review should go ahead and set a date of November 20. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Morris said: “We are very grateful for this hearing so we can continue to work and support our families.”

A Newport city council spokesman said the age restriction policy was common in other authorities including Cardiff and Swansea and had always been to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers.

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IDFIMH

Can't believe he allowed himself to be in the room, let alone make the decision.

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IDFIMH

I cannot see anything wrong with the age limit, that's what quality control is all about

You could be right, but a decision needs to be legal.

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IDFIMH

No it's not MrSkippy41.

Age limits have nothing to do with quality control.

A five year old vehicle can be in a worse state of repair than a ten year old vehicle.

The quality of a vehicle both mechanical & in appearance is dependent on the owner's own maintenance regime or not as the case may be.

Even the DfT BPG acknowledges that.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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