Taxi Driver Online

When you work in one licencing area that is split into zones does your council charge you the full price to get an extra plate for another zone within that area, and should they???
We have 4 zones in the Borders and if you want to work in any of the other zones you have to pay the full operators price of £169 plus £25.00 plate deposit and have your re tested for every zone you want, shurley this cannot be right or legal can it????
You could end up with 4 plates on your cab

I think the answer is yes, but I can't see no good reason why on earth some manors have more than one zone.

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IDFIMH

you could to take this to court, you can ply for hire in all of the Councils area you are licenced for, this is wrong, you are licenced by the same Council, you pay the same dues, for each and every zone, there is a court case with regarding Taxis and zoning, maybe JD can bring it up, the ref is Brian Meek,[ now deceased] traded as Country Cabs, Haxby, York. who won a case against the City of York Council at York magistrates court, approx 10/12 years ago, the Council applied zoning, he won his case on the merits that he was licenced by the York Council but they zoned him to an area. The magistrates agreed that if they licenced him he could work any of that area covered by the council.

Zoning was clarified in the 1875 Public Health act but the introduction of the 1972 Local Government act removed the power of councilors to independantly remove and create zones without approval from the Secretary of State.

The OFT report highlighted the problems of zoning, this prompted the Government to say they intended to make it easier for councils to remove zones. In fact the recent consultation document on best practice mentions the status of Zones, it said.....

61. The areas of some local licensing authorities are divided into two or more zones for taxi licensing purposes. Drivers may be licensed to ply for hire in one zone only. Zones may exist for historical reasons, perhaps because of local authority boundary changes.

62. The Department recommends the abolition of zones. That is chiefly for the benefit of the travelling public. Zoning tends to diminish the supply of taxis and the scope for customer choice, for example, if fifty taxis were licensed overall by a local authority, but with only twenty five of them entitled to ply for hire in each of two zones. It can be confusing and frustrating for people wishing to hire a taxi to find that a vehicle licensed by the relevant local authority is nonetheless unable to pick them up (unless pre-booked) because they are in the wrong part of the local authority area. Abolition of zones can also reduce costs for the local authority, for example through simpler administration and enforcement. It can also promote fuel efficiency, because taxis can pick up a passenger anywhere in the local authority area, rather than having to return empty to their licensed zone after dropping a passenger in another zone.

63. It should be noted that the Government intends to make a Regulatory Reform Order which will remove the need for the Secretary of State to approve amalgamation resolutions made by local licensing authorities. "A consultation document was published on 20 July 2005, responses are due by 14 October 2005".

Pete has previously mentioned the Haxby case but It would be folly to comment on it without actually knowing the details. To my knowledge there has never been a court case on Zoning, probably because very few authorities have zones. I would like to point out, that the case Pete refers to, took place in the Magistrates court, therefore it wouldn't be classed as an authority. If there was a high court case concerning zones then I would no doubt obtain it.

The case of Maud v Castle Point does mention zones but the learned judge goes out of his way to state, that he has no knowledge of any case law appertaining to Taxi zones.

Regards

JD
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PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1875
1875 CHAPTER 55

POLICE REGULATIONS
Royal Assent [11 August 1875]

Public Health Act 1875, Ch. 55, s. 171 (Eng.)

171 Incorporation of certain provisions of 10 & 11 Vict c 89

The provisions of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, with respect to the following matters, (namely,)

(1) With respect to obstructions and nuisances in the streets; and

(2) With respect to fires; and

(3) With respect to places of public resort; and

(4) With respect to hackney carriages; . . .

"shall, for the purpose of regulating such matters in urban districts, be incorporated with this Act",

The expression in the provisions so incorporated "the superintendent constable," and the expression "any constable or other officer appointed by virtue of this or the special Act", shall, for the purposes of this Act, respectively include any superintendent of police, and any constable or officer of police acting for or in the district of any urban authority; and the expression "within the prescribed distance" shall for the purposes of this Act mean within any urban district.

Notwithstanding anything in the provisions so incorporated, a license granted to the driver of any hackney carriage in pursuance thereof shall be in force for one year only from the date of the license, or until the next general licensing meeting where a day for such meeting is appointed.

NOTES:


Initial Commencement

Royal Assent

Royal Assent: 11 August 1875: (no specific commencement provision).

Amendment

Words omitted repealed by the Public Health Act 1936, s 346, Sch 3, Part I.

Extent

This Act does not extend to Scotland: see s 2.

paras 24, 25(1) and 25(2)(a) of Sch 14 to the Local Government Act 1972.

It should be remembered that many authorities inherited Taxi zones through boundary changes and some are having a difficult time removing them.
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972

1972 CHAPTER 70

PART I LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS AND AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND
New local government areas
Royal Assent [26 October 1972]

Local Government Act 1972, Ch. 70, s. 1 (Eng.)

1 New local government areas in England

(1) For the administration of local government on and after 1st April 1974 England (exclusive of Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) shall be divided into local government areas to be known as counties and in those counties there shall be local government areas to be known as districts.

(2) The counties shall be the metropolitan counties named in Part I and the non-metropolitan counties named in Part II of Schedule 1 to this Act and shall comprise the areas respectively described (by reference to administrative areas existing immediately before the passing of this Act) in column 2 of each Part of that Schedule.

(3) The districts in the metropolitan counties shall be those respectively specified in column 2 of the said Part I and shall comprise the areas respectively described (by reference to administrative areas existing immediately before the passing of this Act) in that column, and theSecretary of State may by order provide a name for any such district.

(4) The districts in the non-metropolitan counties shall be those respectively specified in one or more orders made by the Secretary of State under paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to this Act and having the names given to them by one or more orders so made.

(5) Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect in relation to the boundaries of the new local government areas.

(6) Subject to Part IV of Schedule 1 to this Act and to any provision corresponding to that Part made by an order under section 254 below, the rural parishes existing immediately before 1st April 1974 shall continue to exist on and after that date by the name of parishes.

(7) The said Part IV shall have effect with respect to the existing rural parishes which by virtue of this Act are comprised in more than one county or more than one metropolitan district.

8. Part V of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of constituting parishes the boundaries of which are determined by reference to those of existing boroughs and urban districts and also, in cases where the areas of such boroughs and urban districts are divided by or under this section between two or more new districts, by reference to the boundaries of the new districts.

(9) The boroughs which by virtue of section 141 of the 1933 Act or section 28 of the Local Government Act 1958 are included in rural districts immediately before the passing of this Act shall on the passing of this Act become parishes without ceasing to be boroughs, but shall cease to be boroughs on 1st April 1974.

(10) On that date the following local government areas existing immediately before that date outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, that is to say, all administrative counties, boroughs (except those in rural districts), urban districts, rural districts and urban parishes, shall cease to exist and the council of every such area which has a council shall also cease to exist.

(11) On that date the municipal corporation of every borough outside Greater London (and the corporation of a borough included in a rural district) shall cease to exist.

(12) In this section "England" does not include the administrative county of Monmouthshire or the county borough of Newport.

NOTES:

Initial Commencement

Royal Assent

Royal Assent: 26 October 1972: (no specific commencement provision).

Subordinate Legislation

Metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973, SI 1973/137 (made under sub-s (3)).

Extent

This section applies to England only: see s 19.

The relevant wording in the proposed RRO consultation document is as follows.

Paragraph 25 of Schedule 14 to the Local Government Act 1972

To remove the need for a local authority in England or Wales to obtain the Secretary of State’s or the National Assembly for Wales’ approval to a resolution applying section 171(4) of the Public Health Act 1875 to its area so that it can amalgamate taxi licensing zones in its area. 5.1 – 5.16
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Here is the precise Text in the consultation document.

15 CHAPTER 5 Paragraph 25 (4) of Schedule 14 to the Local Government Act 1972 – Proposal and Analysis What is the current burden?

5.1 We propose to remove the need for a local authority in England or Wales to obtain the Secretary of State’s or the National Assembly for Wales’ approval to a resolution applying section 171(4) of the Public Health Act 1875, so that it can amalgamate taxi licensing zones in its area. This will remove a burden from local authorities and, by implication, from the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales. Background and history of the development of zones

5.2 Outside London, taxis in England and Wales are licensed under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, as incorporated within the Public Health Act 1875 (see section 171(4) of that Act), to ply for hire within a prescribed distance. Usually the prescribed distance comprises the whole of the licensing authority’s area, but some licensing areas comprise two or more prescribed distances, known as licensing zones. Licensed taxi drivers are compelled to accept hirings which are wholly within the prescribed distance.

5.3 Before 1974 local authorities applied section 171(4) of the Public Health Act 1875 in certain, mainly urban, areas. Applying that section created a taxi licensing regime in accordance with the provisions of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847. In 1974 new local authority areas were created as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. However, the 1972 Act did not alter the zones licensed under section 171(4), and the old licensing zones remained within the new council boundaries. Consequently, it was necessary for local authorities themselves to make a decision as to how they wished to administer their taxi licensing powers.

They could: (i) opt to have no taxi licensing at all in the district (a resolution to this effect had to be passed before 1 April 1975); or (ii) extend taxi licensing to all parts of the new district and establish a single prescribed distance comprising the whole of the district; or (iii) continue to license taxis only in those, mainly urban, areas where they had been subject to licensing up until the changes took effect and not in the remainder of the district.

5.4 Section 15 of the Transport Act 1985 extended taxi licensing throughout the whole of England and Wales. The effect of section 15 on local authorities who chose option (iii) was that taxi licensing, in the areas already subject to taxi licensing, was retained and a separate zone was created comprising that part of the district which had not been subject to licensing prior to the coming into effect of section 15. A consultation document on changes to the regulation of local authorities in England and Wales through consent requirements

5.5 Those local licensing authorities who had two or more licensing zones could choose to retain separate zones or to amalgamate them. Paragraph 25 of Schedule 14 to the Local Government Act 1972 enables them to pass a resolution to apply section 171(4) to the whole of their area. This has the effect of creating a single taxi zone throughout their area. Once zones have been amalgamated in this way there is no legislative provision for re-creating them. The approval of the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales is required to give effect to the resolution. How does our proposal remove or reduce burdens?

5.6 We propose to remove the need for a local authority in England or Wales to obtain the Secretary of State’s or the National Assembly for Wales’ approval to a resolution applying section 171(4) of the Public Health Act 1875, so that it can amalgamate taxi licensing zones in its area. The power to disapply section 171(4) ceased on 31 March 1975 by virtue of paragraph 25(2) of Schedule 14 to the Local Government Act 1972.

Devolution issues

5.7 The legislation governing taxi licensing in England (outside London) also applies in Wales. The functions of the Secretary of State under paragraph 25 of Schedule 14 are exercisable by the National Assembly for Wales concurrently with the Secretary of State. This means that the power can be independently exercised by each administration. This proposal would have no effect in Scotland as taxis in Scotland are regulated under different legislation. The National Assembly for Wales is content for the requirement for its consent to be removed.

Are we proposing or re-enacting burdens?

5.8 No.

If so, how do they meet the proportionality, fair balance and desirability tests?

5.9 Not relevant. Are we removing inconsistencies or anomalies?

5.10 No.

How does the proposal meet the necessary protection and rights tests?

5.11 In its response to the Office of Fair Trading’s market study of taxis and private hire vehicles, the Government said6 that local authorities are best placed to determine local transport needs and to make the decisions about them in the light of local circumstances. Decisions to amalgamate zones essentially need to balance the need for passengers to benefit from being able to hail any cab in any part of the licensing area, whilst ensuring that an appropriate number of cabs are operating in that area. On average, the Secretary of State receives less than one request a year for approval of a resolution for such a taxi amalgamation and we believe that local authorities should be free to make such resolutions without seeking consent. Local licensing authorities would still have to follow the statutory procedure for giving notice of their intention to pass a resolution, as set out in section 25(5) of Schedule 14 to the Local Government Act 1972, and they would have to take account of any objections put to them.

5.12 Some amalgamations have been a source of local contention. We are aware that drivers who are licensed to ply for hire in one central zone can object to the fact that drivers from other zones will be able to ply for hire in what they might regard as their exclusive territory. However, it is our understanding that such initial controversy usually dies down fairly quickly after amalgamation. Furthermore, the Secretary of State’s approval for amalgamations has not prevented disagreement in what is essentially a local matter. The Government therefore believes that this regulation adds little if any value to decisions on amalgamations of taxi zones.

5.13 This consent requirement provides a safeguard that, in theory, an aggrieved person may have their objections considered by a third party who is not the decision maker. However, over the past 13 years the Secretary of State has not considered it necessary to refuse to approve any amalgamation resolution. If this consent is removed then the aggrieved person would still have the protection afforded by the legislative requirement on local authorities to advertise their intention to amalgamate taxi licensing zones. They could still expect local authorities to consider any objections they raise as a matter of good administration. Does the proposal deal with subordinate provisions?

5.14 No.

What savings or increases in costs are expected?

5.15 There are potential administrative cost savings for local authorities who would no longer need to submit applications for approval to the Secretary of State of the National Assembly for Wales. What other benefits are anticipated?

5.16 No other benefits are anticipated.
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The full document can be read here.....

http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/121/C ... 138121.pdf

So JD could the lifting of the zone restriction be applied to Scotland???
The scottish Borders where we have one council but 4 zones