grandad wrote:
Where in the acts does it say that Hackneys can't set a minimum card payment limit?
Presumably it doesn't, but it's more about the rule of compellability or whatever it's called, ie you need a good reason to knock back a job. Basically, some drivers are using the minimum card job excuse to refuse short runs.
In that regard I'm not wholly convinced by what Sussex is saying
My personal stance is that although I'm not obliged to have a card reader, since I've got one I don't think I can use a minimum payment excuse to basically broom runs I don't particularly want to do
As regards the law, there's obviously no clear guidance or precedent. A grey area, maybe, and one that no council wants to bite the bullet on.
Some have made readers compulsory as a way round the issue, but I think that's just effectively getting rid of any difficulties that would arise as regards actually enforcing a rule making it compulsory for drivers to take short card runs even if readers aren't compulsory.
Of course, just like mandating card readers, it would be easy enough for councils to say that drivers can't set minimum card payment rules, even if they don't want to make readers compulsory, although enforcing such a rule might be another matter, which in turn is maybe why some have made them compulsory to get round the enforcement problem.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some councils have already compelled drivers to take any card run in areas where readers are still optional, but we just haven't heard about it. Here's what X-ray wrote a few months ago, although to what degree this has or has not been incorporated into the formal conditions I'm not sure:
In March 2020, X-ray wrote:
I think we have the same problem up and down the country on all ranks where cards payments aren’t compulsory. We have several drivers here that won’t accept jobs under £10 if it’s on the card. They say there not refusing the job, just the method of payment. The council have issued a statement saying this is basically a refusal of a job and is illegal but until they organise a ‘test’ purchase or receive an official complaint from a passenger they still do it.