Taxi Driver Online

Private-Hire firm Blueline's licensing row rumbles on




ONE of Tyneside’s largest private-hire firms has been told it must agree to operate a Newcastle-specific service – or face closure.

Newcastle City Council took away Blueline taxis’ operating licence in December prompting a court room showdown.

Officers at the council got fed up with the firm sending drivers to Northumberland to get a licence – which the council says results in a different standard of safety checks being applied to those operating under Newcastle’s criteria.

In order to operate in Newcastle, Blueline had promised it would run a Newcastle number for city-registered drivers.

Documents entered into court show this number would have been known by fewer than 100 people since the firm did not advertise it.

Newcastle City Council has said even when the number was answered, test calls showed the drivers sent were typically registered outside of the city.

The courts have now ordered the firm to comply with some of the conditions the local authority originally ordered or face losing its licence.




Blueline says it is awaiting the outcome of a judicial review on other issues – those regarding where it gets its hackney licences from.

Lib Dem councillor Anita Lower, who has raised the issue in questions to the council, said: “This is about the fact the council won a case at the High Court against drivers using licences not granted by the council.

“We won that case, but it is still going on. We are talking about drivers not being licensed by Newcastle, drivers not being vetted by Newcastle and drivers being outside our system of safety checks.

“People should be told that the council has no way of knowing whether the car customers are getting in meets our standards because it is not licensed here.”

Ian Shanks, managing director of Blueline, defended his firm.

He said: “While we are pleased that the district judge agreed that we can use any hackney carriage to fulfil bookings, this case was only necessary because the legislation is antiquated, unclear and out-of-date with modern technology.

“Fortunately for us and all councils in England and Wales, the Law Commission is currently reviewing taxi legislation and is expected to present a new draft taxi law bill to the Government.

“As a company, Blueline has been campaigning for many years for new taxi laws because the current laws that date from 1847 are simply out of date and do not allow for us to provide better services to our customers.

“As one of the largest taxi businesses in the UK, we shall continue to provide information to the Law Commission in the hope that it helps them to draft the best possible laws for the future.”

Stephen Savage, director of regulatory services and public protection at Newcastle City Council, said: “We are pleased that the judge took the view that people have faith in the licensing system of this council and that committee were correct to set a condition to ensure that Blueline maintained an independent operation in Newcastle, requiring use of private hire vehicles and drivers licensed by Newcastle city council.

“This ensures public safety remains at a local level and within the control of the council. The city council is determined to maintain the high standards which currently exist in this area.”


Read More http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-ea ... z1jWJWEHBc

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

To blame the law commission review on current illegalities seems amazing.

CC

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

Ridiculous this is Newcastle city council trying to force the company to plate all its cars in Newcastle I think there is a strong argument here that that is NOT in the best interest of consumers as it is forcing up operating costs surely ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I think Newcastle would argue the reason they are doing it is exactly in the interests of consumers.

CC

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

R u sure its all in the interests of consumers,or could it be a LO who feels his nose has been pushed sideways......

Lib Dem councillor Anita Lower says ..... should we not have national standards ??????

...is this nothing to do with councils lost revenue ?????


Within the control of the council "control" being the operative word,and who says there standards are high standards can they prove it or are they talking poo ???

I think a council has a duty to ensure licensing law is adhered too.

I also think vehicles licensed from elsewhere should predominately work where they are licensed.

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IDFIMH

Indeed.



But didn't the later case (Fidler?) decide that it was all above board legally?

And so if there was national vehicle standards,national driver/applicant standards then this wouldnt happen !

Oh yes, no current laws where being breached if the 'cabs' were out of the way.

However a council should only license a cab if it is going to be working predominately in it's area, or more so they could refuse (Berwick).

So the ones who should get their fingers out are the licensing authority that issues the license, not the one that gets lumbered with the mess.

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IDFIMH

At last....sanity.

CC

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

I wonder if the LO from Shropshire is reading this !

The thing is though we do NOT live in an ideal world and market forces will always come into play if a cheaper option is available people will take it the only way around that is to take licensing out of local council control and make it regional or national so everyone pays the same and have the same standards

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I don't think any of these issues have anything to do with money, it's more down to the ease of getting a license.

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IDFIMH

Well I meant to have a read of the Fidler case but haven't had the time but if a council did try to restrict a HC from working elsewhere wouldn't a legal challenge against that be successful?

I mean, doesn't the legislation merely restrict where an HC can ply for hire rather than where it can work more generally?

We were having a discussion recently about somewhere where the council has a box to tick on it's application form asking if the vehicle is going to be working in that area or not. Might have been Shropshire.

If a council asks that question, and that question is asked in B&H as well, then presumably if they tick the wrong box they don't get licensed, and if they tick the other box and do work elsewhere then they are in breach of their license.

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IDFIMH

But that doesn't address the question of whether such a policy would survive a legal challenge.