Taxi Driver Online

Yes thats right TDO, more than twice as many WAVs as saloons.

Don't get me wrong when the number of WAVs started to increase dramatically plate values dropped to around £4500 but they soon recovered to the normal £6k and then just kept rising, a mate of mine sold his plate 6 months ago for £10k the bloke who bought it is still looking for more and is still willing to pay £10k for a saloon plate.

I know you find this hard to believe TDO, I know it defies logic but its a true fact and you are welcome to come up to Gateshead at any time and I will introduce you to the person buying as well as some recent sellers. BTW the bloke who's buying is renting them out and the lads I know who rent from him are more than happy with the deals they have with him.

Come up for just one day and I'll show you why derestriction doesn't work to the benefit of anyone long term.

B. Lucky

As a contrast you may want to call into Halifax and I'm sure Yorkie will prove to you that the other end of the spectrum is just as bad.

There is no simple answer, but I do know that the policies decided by both Gateshead and Halifax don't offer one either.

B. Lucky

I guess you know where I was going with this don't you? Would I be right in saying these two challenges you mention never got to the higher court?

Best wishes

JD

http://www.cumbria-online.co.uk/viewart ... ?id=170989

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IDFIMH

Sometimes in order to get where you want be you have to take a less than convenient route. When I read this report about Carlisle Council having a two tier licensing system for Hackney carriages I was somewhat surprised. The reason I was surprised was because apart from zoning I had never come across a situation where a council had actually implemented such a condition of license.

I know one or two who have tried but as far as I know Carlisle is the only council, that has actually put it into practice.

Being unfamiliar with the Carlisle set-up, I wasn't quite sure if the article in question referred to saloon private hire vehicles or Taxis. We all know that at the best of times journalists more often than not confuse the two types of vehicles.

The Captain kindly supplied some answers and a breakdown of the situation up there in Carlisle. I'm not going to dwell on who is right or wrong in this situation but for general purposes and for those who might find themselves in a similar situation as this one, I would just like to impart what the law says about conditions of license.

In England and Wales a council can only refuse a license, where it can prove there is no demand for taxis which remains unmet. That is the first principle in our current legislation.

You then move on to Conditions of license. Under section 47-1 of the 1976 Misc. prov. act, a district council can attach "such conditions, as the district council may consider reasonably necessary".

The wording reasonably necessary is of the utmost importance because it does not mean a council has unfettered discretion to attach "any condition to a license" it so pleases.

With this in mind, you then move on to the case law surrounding the imposition of a condition of license. What might one assume to be reasonable and what might one presume to be unreasonable? It would appear that those people who have had the condition imposed would no doubt feel it to be unreasonable.

The law is awash with what constitutes the powers of a council when attaching conditions to a license regardless whether it be Hackney carriages or otherwise.

One Judge commented that "a condition must not be imposed for an ulterior objective but only for a purpose for which the statutory powers have been enacted".

Lord Justice Bingham in the sawyer case referred to the Act of 1985 substituting "a free market policy" so long as the authority was not satisfied that there was no unmet demand. To bring into being a two-tier structure of licensed taxis within a district would fly in the face of that legislative approach.

In the Maud case the Judge said, "In my view a condition preventing a taxi from plying for hire from a particular taxi stand or stands, or in a particular street or streets, would fall outside the scope of the powers granted by Parliament".

There is ample case law defining section 47 as I have said but perhaps the Maud case is most pertinent.

In summing up the situation in Carlisle, I have to say that the council acted beyond their powers, for whatever reasons.

The authority for this is found in existing case law and I am very surprised that Carlisle council do not know this.

Best wishes

JD

JD,

I guessed correctly

The association were aware of the situation, hence our request for a review. You are correct in stating that it never went to a higher court than outside the council chambers.

We have tried pointing out to saloon proprietors that if they pursue the course, it will lead to them having to change vehicles, unfortunately they dont seem to believe the government deadline to LA's concerning WAV's.

Incidentally, the local TOA has a number of saloon proprietors in it, and they oppose going on the station rank for the reasons of safety. It is a little like the wild west on there at times.

Regards

Captain cab

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

Regarding the Holder story which sussex brought up.

This is a sad tale

The guy has been a little disturbed for a while (yes he would fit straight onto this site).

Rather than suspend his license, for his own good and for the safety of passengers, the LA seemed to let it progress until an incident occurred.

The guy lives in a village about 20 miles from Carlisle, most residents were unaware he lived there, although he's lived there for about 6 years!

regards

Captain cab

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

I was thinking of coming for a week, but if you're only allowing me in Gateshead for a day then I won't bother.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

But seriously, I think the increasing saloon premiums perhaps demonstrate that the impact of the de-restriction isn't as big as simple numbers comparisons suggest, which is what I've always said.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

So when Mr Gateshead Angel talks about saloon owners having to buy wavs he got his information from you, because it was you who put the idea about in 2005.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Sefton is a phase one designated area, we are supposed to do be 100 per cent WAV by 2010 .

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

But further information has been collected regarding DDA implimentation since 2005 ................... so what was definatly going to happen regarding its implimentation in 2005 is not as I or others expect the DDA to be implimented if indeed it is at all in 2010.

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.