Taxi Driver Online

Minicab firms 'flouting rules'


A CLAMPDOWN on cab companies forcing their drivers to break licensing rules has been launched by Oxford City Council.

The council’s licensing team leader Julian Alison said the local authority would prosecute private hire firms that make employees ply for trade.

Private hire vehicles must be booked in advance and are not allowed to ‘ply for hire’, which means they can’t queue in a rank or be flagged down in the street.

But Mr Alison said he believed many firms were telling their drivers to flout the rules.

He said: “We have a number of licence-holders who will listen to what the operators say because they want to keep their jobs.

“All the operators want is bums on seats, they don’t care about the individual drivers.

“We have seen examples of private hire drivers turning up at hotels, having removed their stickers and pretending to be exempt vehicles.”

Mr Alison told a meeting of the council’s general purposes licensing committee that enforcement officers would target companies on the wrong side of the law.

He said: “You should expect to see the operators up in front of you in future.”

Committee chairman Colin Cook, below, praised officers and said the council’s tougher new policy on law-breakers had been successful.

He said: “My feeling is we have said ‘cheerio’ to far more people than we used to. I think it’s working.”

Green group leader David Williams also expressed concerns about unsafe vehicles being used and people with poor eyesight being drivers.

He said: “We just can’t have the situation of death traps being driven around and we can’t have the situation of drivers who can only see 25 metres in front of them. This committee and the officers are the guardians of public safety.”
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But private hire driver Khalil Ahmed said: “I’m not aware of any companies which ask drivers to break the rules, but I assume if Mr Alison is talking about this then he has evidence and will deal with it, which I have no problem with.

“I have worked with the firm 101 and I’m now with Royal and I can’t imagine either of them would flout the rules.

“Drivers are aware of the terms and conditions of their licences and I have no sympathy for drivers who break them.

“Regardless of whether they had been told to do it, they should be prosecuted. If a company told me to violate my licence, I wouldn’t do it.”

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/100021 ... ng_rules_/

and how long have we been saying this? all they want is more cars, more cars and more cars, and the worst of the lot is Royal Cars.

I think it's a good idea that operators are held responsible for their drivers actions. If a driver is flouting the law then the operator has the option to get rid or switch of their data head until they tow the line. Operators could have a system in place to give drivers official verbal and written warnings so they can show that they have tried to keep the driver on the right side of the law.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Now that would be interesting toots that would be defining them as employees real bag o nails

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

Dont they do medicals and MOT/compliance checks?

can i move there?

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

they do medical tests, so i'm not sure what hes on about...

but as usual its the PH trade crossing the lines...

and hacks do NOTHING wrong .... ever

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

not at the level of these guys, that's for sure. royal cars has a fleet of over three hundred, they haven't got the work to sustain that many drivers, so these guys go out and look for the hackney work, the ph baron doesn't care, its 300 cars multiplied by £100 a week, thats £30,000 a week, do the maths...

I don't think it would. I think it is reasonable for a base to be able to say they will not allow drivers that act illegally to cover work for them. If a driver wishes to act illegally then they must not be connected to the circuit. It's just a thought. Operators cannot be held responsible 24/7 for drivers actions

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

plus 20% off the top of any account work

plus 100% mark up selling on "block" insurance

at least £3,000,000 a year

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

any PH caught doing wrong can easily be booted off, no loss to a £3M/year base is it

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most