Taxi Driver Online

Private hire vehicles warned by Council - Don’t Try Your Luck!

Private hire vehicles coming to Cheltenham Festival are asked to only pick up pre-booked customers.

As Cheltenham’s four-day jump racing festival begins tomorrow (Tuesday 14 to 17 March 2023) the town will buzz with activity.

Private hire drivers are being warned by the council’s licensing team that they should only come to Cheltenham this week for the purposes of fulfilling legitimate pre-bookings. The council’s licensing team will be undertaking test purchasing operations and drivers found guilty of illegally plying for hire face fines of £1000 and the prospect of losing their licence.

Cllr Martin Horwood, member for customer regulatory services said: ‘’The council continues to take a zero tolerance approach to unlawful taxi activity. Private hire vehicle drivers should not be tempted to try and ply for hire and take cash work on the side. Our enforcement officers will continue to carry out spot checks and monitor activity during major race meets. The council will again seek to prosecute any unsafe or unlicensed taxis chancing their luck during the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.’’

Racegoers are advised to prebook licensed vehicles or use the authorised taxi ranks as by law, all vehicles plying for hire at taxi ranks or on the streets in Cheltenham must be licensed by Cheltenham Borough Council.

Jason Kirkwood licensing team leader said: ‘’We see scenarios each year with members of the public who’ve had a great day and now just want to get home or back to the hotel. We see private-hire drivers trying their luck and our message is clear, without a booking for a private hire vehicle the insurance that protect passengers will often be invalid and the driver is acting illegally. We want people to get home safely – please use a taxi or a booked private hire vehicle.

‘’Our team will be actively checking licensed vehicles and drivers working during race week with the help from colleagues at Gloucestershire Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, South Glos Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council and Wolverhampton Council.’’

Drivers licensed by Cheltenham Borough Council are checked and considered ‘fit and proper’ to get people home safely. This means the vehicles have been checked and are MOT’d and insured. If anyone has a reason to complain about a taxi they are advised to take note of the licence plate number on the rear of the vehicle and if possible which council is stamped on the plate, and contact that council’s licensing team.

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IDFIMH

Wonder what they'll be doing there? I mean, as the crow flies, to get from the Cheltenham Borough Council area to Wolverhampton City Council, you have to go through Tewkesbury Borough Council, Wychavon District Council, Bromsgrove District Council and Dudley Borough Council

What a way to run things

there is ALWAYS a massive enforcement operation during gold cup week and we always get a few press articles pop up later about drivers who have fallen foul.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

You have to wonder why drivers need to undertake illegal work during the festival.

There must be more work than anyone can cover.

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IDFIMH

Not if their normal area of work is some distance away

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Probably non-local cars which won't benefit directly from the festival, but think they can illegally ply for hire and make a mint.

Or, for example, non-local cars dropping and there's flag downs all over the place

And during the Open here there's often not that much happening during the day at times, but any PHVs sitting around would be more likely than normal to get people asking them if they're for hire. (We're almost all HCs here, so PHVs plying for hire is never really a big issue, but could certainly envision it in other places with big events like this.)

So it's not unlike the normal stuff in the big cities when the pubs and clubs chuck out, only on a bigger scale for the particular location, and a lot of it will tend to happen a few hours earlier than the late night stuff.

I mean, here there's very little in terms of punters queuing at the ranks at normal times, even when the pubs chuck out. But during the Open it's a whole different ball game, so cars passing through from elsewhere will find easy pickings if they want to take the risk. And there's effectively zero enforcement of the type they have in Cheltenham and at the Henley Regatta, say.