Taxi Driver Online

VEEZU BRITANNIA TAXIS WIGAN LEAD THE WAY CONFIRMING STRICTER OBSERVANCE of TRIPLE LOCK RULE .... WIGAN JOBS ONLY for WIGAN LICENSED DRIVERS ...

Email below sent to all Britannia Taxis driver partners:
"In response to passenger and driver-partner feedback, Britannia Taxis will be making changes to the dispatch of bookings in your operational areas. With effect from Wednesday, 18th September, the dispatch of bookings for Wigan will only be offered to driver-partners licensed by their local authority. Equally, the dispatch of bookings in all other operational areas will not be available to Wigan licensed driver-partners.

"Britannia Taxis anticipates that this change will improve your passengers' experience, as bookings will be completed by knowledgeable local driver-partners. It is hoped that this will enhance the passenger experience and, in turn, increase booking volumes."

TRIPLE LOCK RULE:
- Three licences - operator, vehicle and driver must ALL be issued by the SAME council
- An operator may not make use of vehicles or drivers that are not licensed by the same council as their operators licence
- A private hire driver may only accept bookings from an operator licensed by the same council as his or her badge and plates

DEREGULATION ACT OF 2015:
- This only allowed for an operator in one area, to 'sub-contract' to an operator in another area
- At no point did it sanction an operator in one area to make use of vehicles and drivers licensed from another area by dispatching jobs directly to them - even if they have the correct paperwork - it only allows them to 'sub-contract'

FACTS ....
All operators must keep clear & accurate records of:
- all bookings both in and outside licensed area
- which driver each job is dispatched to
- which authority each driver is licensed with
- these records must be available to show council enforcement officers at any time

WILL OTHER OPERATORS FOLLOW SUIT .…… MAYBE?
We are now seeing more councils waking up to the growing number of out-of -town drivers working in their area and hear they are asking operators questions that must be responded to within 7 days.... such as:
- number of bookings you have undertaken in your licensed area in the last three months where you have utilised a driver licensed in another area?
- confirm which council these drivers are licensed with

BE WARNED:
- If enforcement find a local operator is making direct use of vehicles and drivers from any other area, then an offence has been committed
- both the operator and the driver are in breach of their licensing conditions, and they both could have their licences revoked
- no one wants to see action being taken against operators or drivers BUT the facts surrounding the deregulation act remain, the triple lock rule remains, and the case of Milton Keynes versus Skyline confirmed it ...
- so be careful, and make sure your house is in order .....

The precise mechanism used for the sub-contracting is certainy an interesting issue, particularly these unmanned 'ghost' offices in Wolverhampton necessary for cross-border despatching there

Not sure how it would all work back in the days of landlines and pen and paper, but I'd guess it's all automated and, particularly with regard to app-only operators, all the necessary contractual legalities happen 'in the cloud'.

Either way, it's presumably been examined by lawyers, and thus legally watertight

Which makes no sense as to why they quoted the 'Milton Keynes Vs Skyline' court appearance when the judge dismissed the case since it was lawful using iCabbi.