EXPLAINED
and investigations have pointed a finger at cross-border hiring practices as having played a contributory factor.
In February this year a report investigating the sexual exploitation of vulnerable people in the North called on the Government to act on weak licensing rules that have led to cross-border hiring. The report stated that: “Experience identified a weakness in licens- ing arrangements for individuals who have a licence to operate a taxi removed but may continue as a private operator of larger vehicles. It was also suggested that because of the large number of licensing authorities for different areas a national database of individuals who have been refused a licence or had one removed should be kept.”
In March Val Shawcross, London’s Deputy Mayor for Transport, called on the Govern- ment to “ensure the safety of taxi and private hire passengers nationwide by end- ing the potentially dangerous practice of cross-border hiring.”
She said technological advances that have increased the scale of cross-border hiring are causing serious public safety concerns. She cited a case where a driver with convic- tions for violence and sexual offences was granted a licence and working elsewhere despite being refused in Doncaster.
Geofencing
The growth of ride hailing technology has played a substantial role in the increased prevalence of cross-border hiring. Whilst other ride hailing services exist, Uber is by far the biggest operator in the country. In March, in response to concerns raised by regulators relating to cross-border hiring, Uber announced a change to how it will allocate work to its drivers.
In a change to its policy on allocating work, Uber introduced geofencing that created virtual geographic operating boundaries for its drivers. The change meant that Uber drivers will still be free to choose where they want to drive; however, drivers will only be able to receive requests from the Uber app in the region in which their licensing author- ity is. The location of your driver’s licence will allow you to drive in one of nine regions in England and Wales.
So for example, if a driver has a TfL private hire licence, but does the majority of their driving with Uber in Birmingham, they will have to get a private hire licence from a council in the Midlands to continue driving with Uber in and around this area.
APRIL 2018 THE GOVERNMENT
Cross-border hiring has firmly been on the Government’s agenda of late. In July last year Frank Field MP opened a debate in Par- liament on the “working conditions in the private hire industry” saying “Uber and sim- ilar companies are registering in London, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow, getting the necessary licences from those areas’ trans- port executives. Is it because the legislation is uncertain or difficult to interpret that these transport executives are not saying: ‘These are the minimum conditions that you, the company, must meet if you wish us to grant you a licence to operate in our area’ I would like to hear the Minister’s view, but I think the position is quite clear.”
A second debate was by Wes Streeting MP also in July. In that Parliamentary debate Mr Streeting said “The taxi and private hire industry is, in many respects, at the cutting edge of an industrial revolution that is sweeping the world at unprecedented scale and pace. Breakthroughs in technology offer unlimited potential to improve our quality of life and revolutionise the way we travel, but we have seen on the streets of London and other major cities around the world how technological advances can be exploited by multinational companies that seek to drive competitors off the road with a business model based on poor pay and conditions for drivers, exploitation of regu- latory loopholes and predatory pricing that is made possible by huge venture capital and aggressive tax avoidance.”
In response, the Government set up a Taxi and Private Hire Task and Finish Working Group in September last year to consider the adequacy and efficiency of legislation and guidance concerning the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles in England.
The task and finish group’s stated objectives:
• Identifying the current priority concerns regarding the regulation of the sector, based on evidence of impact and scale across England;
• Considering, in particular, the adequacy of measures in the licensing system to address those issues;
• Considering whether it would advise the Government to accept the recommenda- tions made in the Law Commission’s May 2014 report on taxi and PHV legislative reform relevant to the issues, and;
• Making specific and prioritised recom- mendations, legislative and non-
legislative, for action to address identi- fied and evidenced issues.
The Government of course does not have a good track record of responding to issues in the taxi and private hire industries. For example, it did not act on the Transport Select Committee’s recommendation in 2011 that, amongst other things, local authorities should impose conditions to the effect that taxis, private hire vehicles and their drivers must work principally in district by which they are licensed. Equally it did not substantially act on the Law Commission’s report in 2014 recommend- ing wholesale reform of the taxi and private hire regulator system.
There is a feeling however that the Govern- ment cannot continue to be complacent about this, particularly in respect of cross- border hiring.
The task and finish group is due to report back to Government shortly.
The Government is unlikely to enact a lot of the Law Commission’s recommendations as these are now seen as largely out of date and irrelevant, given that the report is com- ing up to four years old. It is also unlikely to go as far as TfL hopes it will particularly in respect of its “start or finish requirement” recommendation.
What the Government is likely to do howev- er is introduce national standards for driving licences, extend enforcement powers that will allow licensing authorities to act against any vehicle and drivers operating in its area irrespective of where they are licensed, and support the Licensing of Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill.
The Government will need to enact primary legislation to introduce these measures, which will take some time particularly given that Brexit is currently taking up most the Parliamentary time. Whilst we are therefore unlikely to see immediate legislative changes it is almost certain that changes are coming, and the trade needs to be aware of this because there will certainly be implications for licence holders around the country.
Article supplied by: Stephen McCaffrey Head of Kings View Chambers and Taxi Defence Barristers 020 7060 1775
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