grandad wrote:
I don't know the legal position on this but if you apply a little reasoning to it you could come to the conclusion that if you had to prove that the car was insured correctly to get the plate issued then if the car is no longer insured then the plate is no longer issued correctly and as such the Council should have it back. If that isn't the case many drivers would simply cancel their hire and reward insurance as soon as they have their plate and just take out ordinary insurance.
Captain Cab used to refer to some areas as sleepy hollows which I always used to interpret as areas where time stood still, or licencing regimes were too lazy to keep up to date.
The production of the correct insurance is perfectly reasonable when being issued a licence or renewing it, and is a must when the vehicle is on the road working or not working.(Repeat, on the road). As for it being parked up on private land or in a garage being repaired, which might take months, then this is a cost that is not necessary. In some places handing your licence back in and having it returned to you at a later date, is not an option. You hand the licence in - it is gone.
With changes in the way traffic policing has advanced, the ability to see whether a vehicle is insured or not has far outstripped a letter in the post from your council. The council only has to abide by the law of the land that the vehicle must be insured when on the road.
Condition of licences should be constantly reviewed to see whether they are practical and even legal, as of today's needs. That is part of the reason it is important the local hackney and ph have regular meetings with the licencing department to make sure that people who have no knowledge of the practical day to day workings of providing a hackney/ph service is up to date, and certain red tape is no longer needed. Left to their own devices, licencing departments can be a utter nightmare.