Taxi Driver Online

Can a council insist that seat belts are fitted for use with rear facing seats in vehicles such as the TX range and Metrocabs?

_________________
Grandad,

mine is a 52 plate TX2 its got seat belts for the rear facing seats, but another driver got 97 TX1 and that aint got seat belts for rear facing seats,Thats the way it was made so la license them here(Thurrock)

I would say yes.

_________________
IDFIMH

Even though there is no law that requires them?

_________________
Grandad,

And I would say no.

_________________
Former taxi driver

Of course the council can insist!!

It's in the legislation.

Section 47 of The LG (MP) Act 1976 states;

47 Licensing of hackney carriages
(1) A district council may attach to the grant of a licence of a hackney carriage under the Act of 1847 such conditions as the district council may consider reasonably necessary.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, a district council may require any hackney carriage licensed by them under the Act of 1847 to be of such design or appearance or bear such distinguishing marks as shall clearly identify it as a hackney carriage.
(3) Any person aggrieved by any conditions attached to such a licence may appeal to a magistrates' court.

So if the proprietor is of an aggrieved nature, he can have his say at Magistrates' Court.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

I must have got out of bed on the wrong side today because I have to agree with Jimbo
If the cab never had them or where designed without them, fitting after market ones could be deemed dangerous for the user,as they have never been factory tested, and would the insurance company pay up if the passenger was injured using them

Councils do many things that are written in statute, like dress codes and knowledge tests for drivers, and extra mechanical checks on vehicles.

Seats in cabs need seat belts, otherwise you will be sued to buggery should an accident occur..

_________________
IDFIMH

The law states that seat belts must be used [b]IF they are available[/b]

Yes, but if a council says you must have seat belts for all your seats then no court in the land is going to oppose it.

_________________
IDFIMH

But if they where not fitted at the time of manufacture and there are no fixing points how can they fit them???

The only way would be to remove them cabs from service so that owners can comply by buying a cab that has them

Would the insurance company pay-up after the driver has been found to have no seat belts in his cab or even after the driver has been told to fit them and ignored the LA, mmm . I know what your are saying could be deemed reasonable, but I think its possible that a judge may say its more than reasonable to expect seat belts to be fitted in all vehicles.
However your local bus operator has no such law to worry about and one could possible argue this point successfully!

Maybe they can't, which is why the council shouldn't license them.

_________________
IDFIMH

Councils can claim certain vehicles arent safe to be plated (as in 9 seater VW transporters with tip up seats,etc) despite 1000s being in private hands...

id guess yes


little hitlers