Taxi Driver Online

Not the first time this method of challenging council policies has been tried, but predictably unsuccessful. Nice try, but no cigar


Taxi driver left £800 out of pocket for challenging Plymouth City Council's jeans 'ban'

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... ut-7615644

The ban - introduced by council chiefs in 2018 - still irks many Plymouth taxi drivers with one appealing against a suspension for wearing the wrong trousers

A taxi driver who challenged Plymouth City Council's strict new rules on approved clothing was left £800 out of pocket as magistrates warned him that he should have asked for a Judicial Review in the High Court. The Plymouth driver, whom PlymouthLive is not naming, had appealed against the council's decision on December 22, 2021 to suspend his hackney carriage driver's licence.

The hearing, which took place at Plymouth Magistrates' Court earlier this month, is understood to have centred around the council's insistence that drivers abide by it's policy on a dress code - which bans jeans, open sandals and T-shirts.

As a minimum, as reported by PlymouthLive in 2018, the dress code was originally set to see drivers ordered to wear collared shirts or blouse and a ban on any football tops, hoodies or trainers. Following an outcry by taxi drivers, a more 'relaxed' set of rules was rubber-stamped by the council - but the jeans remained banned.

The driver who appeared at court is understood to have argued that the council did not follow the correct procedure and thus its decision to suspend his taxi licence for five days was incorrect. However, according to court documents, magistrates said they considered the council was "within their powers and authority to make said decision in accordance with policy, code of conduct, byelaws and statute".

The document also noted that the driver admitted he was aware and understood the policy and "set out to breach it to have [his] day in court." However, the magistrates argued that the "correct venue to challenge legality of council policy and law is Judicial Review in the High Court". They added that the council's decision was "reasonable, proportionate and lawful".

They stated: "We have the power to consider the council decisions and whether correct decision reached. We can accept the application and dismiss the suspension or we can accept the decision and either keep suspension or vary it. We dismiss the appeal as we found the right decision was made, and it was both reasonable and proportionate and within the councils power to do so."

Magistrates dismissed the driver's appeal and ordered him to pay Plymouth City Council's £800 legal costs. A member of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association, who asked not to be named, said they were aware of the case and felt the council was still being 'unreasonable'.

They said: "Yes, clothing shouldn't be torn or tattered or dirty or scrappy, we agree with that. But it is unreasonable to object to driver's wearing jeans. Jeans appear to be entirely appropriate for councillors to wear during council work.

"When you go out in a taxi, you may end up having a puncture, or a fan belt goes, or you have to lift items into the vehicle for a passenger, or you have to clear seats if they've been left a mess. You don't want to be wearing an expensive pair of smart suit trousers - you want something hard-wearing and practical. It's about what is considered a reasonable standard of dress.

"What's unfair about this is the council has written it's policy and we can't argue it unless someone takes it all the way to the High Court and there can't be that many taxi drivers who have the time and money to do that. We still think it's unfair and in this instance one driver who tried to challenge it is now hundreds of pounds out of pocket."

A Plymouth City Council spokesperson said they could not comment about individual cases and stated that the council did not take licenced taxi drivers to court - the taxi driver could themselves appeal to the court against the taxi licensing committee's decision.

They said: "We use a penalty point scheme for dealing with minor offences committed by Hackney Carriage and private hire licence holders. Points are issued via a written notice to licence holders who are found to be in breach of legislation, byelaws, our taxi licensing policy or conditions of licence.

"If a licence holder accumulates 12 points or more within a rolling period of 36 months then their licence will be subject to a review by our Taxi Licensing Committee. If a licence holder is unhappy about a Taxi Licensing Committee decision they may go to court to appeal that decision.

"Since 2018, 79 penalty point notices have been issued for breaches of the dress code standards within the Code of Good Conduct. Of the 68 drivers to receive notices, one has accumulated 12 penalty points or more for failure to adhere to the dress code standards.

"The full Code of Good Conduct and Penalty Points Scheme can be found on our website at new.plymouth.gov.uk/taxi-licensing, under ‘taxi policy, guidance and byelaws’."

Bit daft all this - makes it sound like if you don't wear jeans then you have to wear an Armani suit

Think that's what's called a false dichotomy - in reality it isn't a crude choice between a pair of jeans and hugely more expensive clobber

And I mean, changing a fan belt? And I suppose he uses a pair of tights. (I mean as a fan belt, not as part of the dress code.)


That's a good point, though. It's very difficult for anyone other than the bigger firms and trade groups with deep pockets like the LTDA to mount a legal challenge to anything, and to that extent councils can do as they please. This driver tried a roundabout, cheaper and more straightforward route, but clearly that's failed.

The man who represents himself in court has an idiot for a client.

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Former taxi driver

Problems some in the trade have is that they come late, often very late, to the party.

When these decisions are being made you need to be there when they are first discussed. When they have been implemented, it's far too late.

I suspect many in the trade wanted rid of jeans, but a few didn't. Maybe the majority didn't. If that was the case then the majority need to get their acts together.

But they won't, because it's far easier to sit in your cab and expect the fairies to sort out their problems.

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IDFIMH

It’s the scourge of our industry, APATHY! I’m one of the trade reps here and it’s like banging your head against a brick wall. Councils love ‘consultations’ before they make a decision. When there is little or no response from drivers/owners they take this as a green light to implement what they want. When people start moaning about it it’s already been implemented. That’s when I get asked “what are going to do about it ?” They seem to have no recollection of me telling them to reply to the consultation themselves. We always reply as an association but it’s so much better when there are a stack of individual replies as well.