Taxi Driver Online

Taxis: Licensing

Department for Transport written question – answered on 7th November 2016.

Royston Smith Conservative, Southampton, Itchen

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers local authorities possess to effectively regulate private hire vehicles that operate outside of their primary licensing area.

Andrew Jones Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Local licensing authorities in England and Wales have a duty to ensure that any person or organisation to whom they grant a PHV operator’s licence is ‘fit and proper’ to hold such a licence. The same duty is required when granting a PHV driver licence. Furthermore, once a licence has been issued, licensing authorities should have systems in place, including links with the police and other licensing authorities, to ensure that drivers and operators continue to be ‘fit and proper’.

All PHV bookings, including those received by a sub-contracting arrangement, must be fulfilled by licensed PHV operators using licensed drivers and vehicles, all of whom have met their local licensing standards. The original operator who takes the booking will retain responsibility for the journey, and both the original operator and the operator who fulfils the booking will be under a duty to keep records of the booking and the relevant enforcement authorities will be able to check those records.

The sharing of information between licensing authorities is encouraged and the licence issuing authority can investigate complaints against a driver regardless of where the driver was working at the time. Local licensing authorities are also able to delegate powers to each other to help deal with issues such as taxis operating as private hire vehicles outside their licence area. For example, in Merseyside five licensing authorities have agreed a concordat allowing each other to enforce against all the vehicles and drivers licensed by the five areas.

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

not sure he entirely understood the question ?

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

Why has this not been done on a national basis?

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Grandad,

Wonder if it was this happening in York, PH working outside their area???

I think he does.

He just doesn't want to answer it properly.

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IDFIMH

5 authorities sharing responsibility and still no feckin enforcement. Looks good tho

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

Exactly.

Why should the 300 odd councils have to go through a process of dealing with the other 300 odd councils when the gov can do it it one quick and easy Regulatory Reform Order?

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IDFIMH

How can a taxi operate as a private hire vehicle,the Laws for a TAXI are totally different to private hire vehicle laws,the TAXI must be in its own district to accept a booking.

Not sure the law agrees with you on that. It must be within it's own area to accept a hail.

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Grandad,

or a rank pick up

lots of them here work PH in Peterborough during the week on SKDC Hackney plates and flood our ranks on a weekend perfectly legal what wasn't legal was a couple of vehicles plated twice for both districts one PH one hackney

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

So if a taxi dropped at Gatwick and their operator rang them to pick up a punter there the driver would be breaking the law?

Remind me which law that is?

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IDFIMH

Similar if I take a customer in a Hackney to a town outside my borough and he then asks to picked up a couple of hours later.

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Grandad,

Have a look at the ComCab case.

How does a TAXI have an operator?

What! You think all Hackney Carriages just sit on ranks and accept flagdowns? All our cars are Hackney and the vast majority of our work is from calls placed to our office and dispatched by computer to the drivers. Now you can call the person answering the phone and putting the jobs on the computer anything you like but a generic term for someone who is operating the system is an operator.

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Grandad,

It doesn't need one, so how can you prosecute someone for not having a license that he doesn't need?

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IDFIMH