Taxi Driver Online

Article in The Times

And his previous free taxi was quite a few years ago now, but looks like he got away with it for a couple of years.

I'm guessing the photo is an old one, and not one of the vehicles he actually used. But certainly not much chance of that thing getting plated now

Anyway, for context, this pub is in a village about 7 miles from the centre of Kidderminster.


Drink-driving reforms spur publican to launch free taxi service

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/a ... -ht2bb2h8z

Sean McGahern, of the Royal Forester Inn in Worcestershire, said cutting the legal limit is ‘another nail in the coffin’ of the hospitality trade

https://d19ah76kfl4z60.archive.is/QQJxR ... 32e71.webp

A publican is preparing to launch a free taxi service for drinkers at his rural pub after he said the government’s plans to lower the drink-drive limit struck “another nail in the coffin” of the hospitality trade.

Sean McGahern, 55, a third-generation publican who owns the Royal Forester Inn on the edge of the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, was previously stopped from running a successful free lift service when local taxi drivers complained.

He said he was stopped by the council licensing office in 2009 after several years of successfully operating a free taxi service for drinkers to get to and from his village pub.

After the latest hit to his business, he has said that he needed to relaunch the service to stay afloat, and that he is willing to fight his case in court.

“This is a death of a thousand cuts,” he said of government plans to reduce the drink-driving limit in England from 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath to 22 micrograms. The move will bring it in line with Scotland’s limit, which was lowered in 2014.

“It’s just another deterrent to stop people going out,” McGahern said. “I don’t think drink driving is the problem it was years ago and those having two pints compared to one pint isn’t the problem. People caught drink driving now are having a lot more to drink and are well over the limit when they are stopped.”

McGahern began a free taxi service from his pub, in the small village of Callow Hill, in 2007 and ran it successfully with two multi-purpose vehicles until local taxi drivers complained to the council in 2009.

“I only did it initially because the local taxi firms were reluctant to come out here, but when it got successful they made a complaint to say I was doing it in an unregistered taxi,” he said. “The local licensing officer said if I picked someone up and they bought a packet of crisps in the pub, it counted as a reward and I would need to register as an official taxi and provide a service for the disabled. It would have cost me thousands, so I stopped it.”

McGahern said his solicitor told him it was a “grey area” of the law and he could have fought his local council in court.

“Back then my pub was doing OK so I could afford to leave it but now we are operating under completely different trading conditions,” he said. “The increase in the minimum wage has forced me to cut back my staff’s hours by 25 per cent and me and my wife are having to do a lot more ourselves. I had one day off over the entire Christmas period.”

The pub trade is also struggling with higher national insurance contributions and more expensive food, drink and energy bills.

“These have been the two hardest budgets I have had to operate through and I don’t know where it’s going,” McGahern said. “They are putting everyone out of business. I am very lucky, because I was left this pub by my parents, I have bedrooms and a restaurant and I am not tied to a brewery. If I am struggling to turn a profit, what is it like for those having to pay rent or a mortgage?”

Critics of a lower drink-drive limit believe that better enforcement of the existing limit with more random breathalyser tests would have a greater impact on road safety. They argue that the most serious accidents are usually caused by drivers significantly over the legal limit and not by those with lower levels of blood alcohol.

This claim is hard to verify because there are no official statistics showing the average blood alcohol readings of those involved in serious accidents. However, international studies show that higher blood alcohol levels are associated with a greater risk of involvement in fatal collisions.

Lilian Greenwood, the local transport minister, has defended the plans, telling Times Radio: “We don’t want to stop people from going to the pub and having a great night out. What we’re just saying is don’t take your car. So that might mean … take a bus or a taxi.”

Greenwood insisted the government had the evidence to justify the reforms. “Studies by the University of Stirling and University of Bath show that [lowering the limit in Scotland] didn’t have a significant impact on the pub trade,” she said.

Not sure what the 'service to the disabled' would be all about

Had a look on the Wyre Forest Council website, and indeed new HC plates can only be given to WAVs, with a specific silver colour code, and less than two-years old

https://www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/busines ... onditions/

So maybe there was some confusion about the spec, and he thought he would have had to run an HC, and thus a WAV, and an expensive WAV at that.

And the PHV spec isn't exactly Wolverhampton-esque either - looks like two-years-old ON, and seven-years-old OFF, and must be a very specific shade of red

https://www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk/busines ... onditions/

So the PHV spec isn't particularly easy either, so I could see that being a big deterrent to getting plated.

(And the linked pages above say last updated 2007, so that's consistent with his service being stopped back in 2009.)

Well lawyers do say that sort of thing, don't they

At a rough guess I'd say it's more like what's called 'settled law'. And as discussed on here a few times before.

Maybe the solicitor was suggesting the council's licensing policies were ripe for challenge...

(The vehicles are tested three times a year as well...)

A lot of this is down to insurance and what type of cover he has but also if he wants to put a minibus on or just a 6 seater.

his business is getting payment in the form of purchases of food and drink so effectively it is reward and providing hire in return he does in my opinion either need a PH license or go down the bus route

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

I think the phrase is with 'a view to profit' or 'obtaining a pecuniary advantage', or similar

So, basically, if the indirect purpose is to make a profit, even if no direct charge is made, then it's deemed done in the course of business, or whatever, and thus it's a commercial scenario and requires licensing, as opposed to just giving a free lift to family or friends.

We have what I would deem a sililar thing happening here in that a local playgroup, as part of the fees paid by parents, take older children from the playgroup to the local schools that they go to. I have argued that because the owner of the playgroup is making money out of the caring for these kids then they should be licensed to transport them to school.

we have one here doing a similar scheme for over 20 years and the owner got an honour at new year

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

I wonder what his reaction would be if a bloke with a van offered to sell booze outside of his pub?

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IDFIMH

In this case, nothing is a grey area; it's settled law and has been for a very long time.

And yes, he could have fought this in court, but he would have lost the case, and quite possibly his booze license as well.

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IDFIMH

And you are correct.

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IDFIMH

Rout v Swallow Hotels

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

Our Council don't agree with us though.

Well, if the government goes down the Transport Authority route, your council won't get a say on these matters.

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IDFIMH