TAXI LAW EXPLAINED
culties for hackney carriage and private hire applicants and licence holders.
Medicals
We have been made aware that GP surg- eries and other providers have been cancelling appointments for undertaking medical reports for hackney carriage and private hire applicants and licence holders.
The fit and proper assessment for licence holders and applicants includes the require- ment for medical fitness. This is normally a policy requirement and without satisfying this requirement, licensing authorities will not grant licences.
Where then does that leave hackney car- riage and private hire licence holders or applicants? In strict legal terms – and per- haps under more normal circumstances – there would be a strict requirement to com- ply with policy requirements. However, we are currently not facing normal circum- stances.
Until such time as Government issues fur- ther guidance on the matter, it will be down to each licensing authority to set its own course. We expect that existing hackney carriage and private hire licence holders will either have medical requirements temporar- ily suspended or be required to complete some form of self-declaration as an alterna- tive.
Those who are most likely to be most disad- vantaged are new applicants. It is unlikely that new licences will be granted without the medical requirements being met.
Other policy requirements
As the impact of the outbreak worsens, there will be other policy and licensing requirements that will pose difficulties for the trade to comply with.
The general principles discussed above will apply to other policy requirements too. We would advise hackney carriage and private hire licence holders and applicants facing difficulties with complying with policy requirements to:
• Seek advice from their own licensing authority on contingency or business con- tinuity plans
• Take advice from unions or associations to which you may belong
• It might be in more extreme cases that licences are refused, suspended or revoked. In these cases, it is important to seek legal advice without delay.
APRIL 2020
operator. Licensed drivers should consult their contracts or speak to their operators about this. There is general acceptance that normal rules of business are suspend- ed and as such the agreement between operators and drivers should be flexible and lenient.
However, ultimately the contractual terms will define the terms of the arrangement. Whilst strictly speaking licensing authori- ties cannot intervene, drivers can approach their licensing authority for advice.
LICENSING HEARINGS AND DECISION MAKING
Licensing hearings are an important demo- cratic licensing process promoting fairness and transparency in decision making. At the time of writing (20/03/2020), there has been no official advice from the Govern- ment to cease licensing hearings. This will no doubt change and this too will have an impact on licence holders and applications. A number of observations that I would like to make in reference to this:
1. I anticipate more decision-making powers will be delegated to licensing officers as some decisions will need to be made more expediently under the current cir- cumstances. Whist the circumstances may justify more extreme measures, it cannot be at the expense of proper pro- cess, fairness, transparency and appropriate consultation.
2. Delegating decision making powers to officers should, in my view, be the last resort as there are other alternatives open to local authorities such as extra precautions and remote hearings via video link, for example.
3. Despite the current circumstances we are facing, it is important that people’s rights are protected including the right to jus- tice and fairness.
Any hackney carriage or private hire licence holder or applicant who may have had their rights denied can contact Taxi Defence Barristers for advice.
WEEKLY RENT
We have also heard reports of private hire operators continuing to charge licensed drivers weekly rents despite a drop-off in work or in some cases drivers not working at all.
Licensed drivers will most likely be sub- ject to some form of contractual arrangements that set out the terms of the agreement between the driver and the
APPEALS
At the time of writing, the advice issued by the Lord Chief Justice urges hearings to continue remotely including civil hearings such as licensing.
In his communication he said
• The default position now in all jurisdic- tions must be that hearings should be conducted with one, more than one or all participants attending remotely.
• I would urge all before agreeing to adjourn any hearing to use available time to explore with the parties the possibility for compromise.
• Final hearings and hearings with contest- ed evidence very shortly will inevitably be conducted using technology. Otherwise, there will be no hearings and access to justice will become a mirage. Even now we have to be thinking about the inevitable backlogs and delays that are building in the system and will build to an intolerable level if too much court busi- ness is simply adjourned.
Is would appear therefore that licensing appeals should go ahead as normal. It is however anticipated that the advice will change and criminal cases will take provi- dence over civil ones. This means that the time will come when the courts will post- pone licensing hearings and appeals.
Since there is no clear indication of how long the current outbreak will last, postpon- ing for example, licensing hearings, could have a significant impact on the time taxi and private hire licence holders and partic- ularly applicants will have to wait before their cases will be heard.
One important factor may be your legal representative’s ability to conduct licensing hearings remotely. Taxi Defence Barristers are fully set up to do this and we will work to ensure we can get hearings conducted in as expedient a manner as possible under the circumstances.
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