Taxi Driver Online

York taxi bosses claim council made decisions based on 'misinformation'

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/174610 ... formation/

FOUR taxi drivers’ associations have submitted a complaint to City of York Council claiming the authority made licensing decisions based on "misinformation".

An 11-page document from York’s Independent Taxi Association, Hackney Carriage Association, Private Hire Association and Station Taxis Association raises concerns over information provided by council officers to a licensing meeting in February. The complaint claims the advice was insufficient for councillors to make a fully-informed decision.

The document said: “We are engaging with officers and elected members of the Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee. Unfortunately, the last meeting of this committee on Monday, February 11, 2019, contained a number of, in our opinion, such grave omissions and inaccuracies on the part of officers, that we feel that they had the effect of potentially misadvising members. We would like formal acknowledgement that some of the information included in the report was incorrect, and for that information to be correctly represented.

“We would like a public statement and acknowledgement regarding all the misinformation that was presented at the meeting to clarify for the viewing and listening public, the elected members and the trade, the points which are accurate and those which are not.”

The council said it was not immediately treating the matter as a formal complaint because it was not about an alleged breach of council rules, rather the work of officers and their interpretation of legislation, which the council supported and stood by. However, the matter was still being considered.

A council spokeswoman said the authority’s report to the licensing committee on February 11 presented “its position regarding the interpretation of the law relating to private hire licensing and the ability to work outside the area within which they are licensed”, and the council has “been clear on our position on this”.

Thought this was maybe related to an earlier piece about criticism of council officials in York, but that was about an earlier meeting, and it was councillors who criticised the officers rather than the trade.

Of course, the councillors' criticism of the officials may have acted as a spur for the trade to get in on the act too

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33639

I'm pretty certain the York trade are being advised by proper leading licensing lawyers, thus I suspect their complaint is justified.

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IDFIMH

Well indeed we'd all be picking holes in this kind of thing if we thought it would get us anywhere.

And we'd never be out of the law courts if we could afford it - what's the UTCG raising for their legal actions - £1.5 million, was it

But of course even if they're hiring leading licensing QCs in York, at the end of the day much of their advise will only ever be opinions, either never tested in court, or found wanting when push comes to shove. There are always lawyers on both sides with competing opinions, but one side has to lose.

And there are always lawyers willing to offer an opinion on the law regardless of its efficacy, and I suspect that's what'll happen regarding the London trades's actions against TfL and Uber - they're clutching at straws, but there's always a lawyer around to make a mint out of a wild goose chase (to mix several metaphors )

But all of which reminds me that I meant to resurrect that thread about the number of seats and public/private use