Opinion: The recent High Court decision on pedicabs underlined the omission of the issue of unlicensed vehicles from the OFT's report.

The recent High Court decision regarding pedicabs has once again brought into focus the issue of unlicensed vehicles.  While the court decided that pedicabs were 'stage carriages' and therefore could not be subject to the taxi licensing regime, the matter generally covers a wide range of different services and vehicle types, including pedicabs/rickshaws, airport transfers and chauffeur drive.  Then there's that favourite for bingo trips and hen nights - the American stretch limo - and things go from the tacky to the ridiculous with the fire engine recently featured on Taxi Driver Online.

The regulatory approach to these vehicles differs not only in the four sources of primary legislation in the UK, but also from the perspective of each individual licensing authority.  These approaches range from the patently exempt such as funeral and wedding cars, those dubiously exempted like some airport transfer services, through to scenarios whereby the licensing authority simply does not seem to bother regulating certain vehicles - in other words, an inconsistent regulatory mess.

Last year's Scottish Executive consultation seemed to hit the nail on the head when it said, in relation to unregulated vehicles: "Local authorities can...determine the type, size and design of vehicles that can operate in their area.  Consequently many local authorities are fairly prescriptive about the type and age of vehicles that can operate as private hire cars and the number of passengers they are licensed to carry."

Thus some local authorities seem to be saying that because certain vehicles fall outside their vehicle specification then they must remain unregulated - surely the legislation gives powers to local authorities so that they can prescribe vehicle specifications for licensing purposes, and not so that operators can use vehicles outwith that specification and thus remain unlicensed?  Presumably a fire engine will not meet a local authorities specification, and thus another fire engine we found in the Glasgow area (the Crazy Fire Company) can remain unlicensed?

A more conventional example brought to our attention is a firm called Centre Travel, based in Dundee.  This firm is featured on the St Andrews University Travel Service website as an 'airport taxi' service.  We understand that this firm competes with local taxi firms for long distance work but is unlicensed and thus does not require the usual driver and vehicle checks require by legitimate cab services, nor will it incur the normal expenses and hassle associated with licensing.  Moreover, it is able to advertise its services prominently on its vehicles, a privilege not afforded to local taxi or private hire operators.

With the Office of Fair Trading recently producing a several hundred page report on the UK taxi and private hire trades, legitimate operators might have expected that at least some mention might have been made of this 'unfair trading', not to mention the public safety implications, but as with many other matters relevant to the trade, the silence on this issue perhaps speaks volumes.

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