AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
to drive your licensed vehicle unless they are also licensed by the same authority.
• Section 46 (1) (d) means a licensed operator, who again has to be licensed by the same authority as the car and the driver, cannot give (communicate) to a driver a job/booking, remember the phrase “for a private hire vehicle”, unless that person, or entity, as kindly clarified by Lord Chief Justice Hickingbottom, is licensed yet again by the same licensed authority that controls your controlled district.
• Section 46 (1) (e) means that a licensed operator cannot give a job to a driver that is licensed by another authority.
There is a current bill going through parliament called the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill”. It is attempting to address the issue of local licence enforcement officers not having the ability to deal with cars licensed by other areas and working predominantly in their controlled districts.
After reading this history of the 76 Act, you may possi- bly say that it is ludicrous that this subject is in this bill. Why are cars licensed in remote districts working in other controlled districts, when it is quite clear that they are not allowed to do so?
This bill is adding a salve to a tumour and simply will not work for numerous reasons; one being, who will be pay- ing the officers for enforcement on vehicles when the local authority which they represent is not receiving funding from the licences issued?
Or perhaps you haven’t grasped the concept yet of what Parliament meant when it drafted the 76 Act - namely the ability to control.
We’re going to assume that you now understand what Parliament meant when it wrote this legislation: that a private hire vehicle and its driver cannot make themself available to an operator when they are outside of their controlled district.
TRIPLE LICENSING RULE AND IT’S TRUE MEANING
It is quite clear so far, to coin a phrase: all the collars and cuffs have to match. This has come to be known as the “triple licensing rule.” This rule is commonly quoted by licensing authorities when they dispute that cars not licensed by them are being operated in their areas.
The rule has been accepted and yet totally misconstrued by those councils that quote it.
The misinterpretation of the triple licence rule is the same construction used by Miss Booth QC, a.k.a Cherie Blair, in Shanks vs North Tyneside. She tried to argue that once an operator had obtained a licence to operate, this would allow it to operate in any district with any licensed vehicle. Lord Justice Latham in his summation said quite famously:
23. That would, in my judgement, drive a coach and horses through what appears to me to be a central principle of this legislation, which is that the authorities responsible for granting licences should have the ability to exercise full control over the operation of private hire vehicles within their area.
24. I consider therefore that there are good policy reasons for ensuring that there is a unified system of control in relation to private hire vehicles operating within the area of any given authority. That ensures consistency of policy in relation to the provision of private hire vehicles and their drivers. It enables the authority to ensure that it is able to exercise such control as it is entitled to exercise over all the vehicles and drivers being operated to provide private hire services within its area. That seems to me to be a central purpose of the stautory provisions.
[TDO court case database]
This along with several other cases: Blueline v Newcastle, Murtagh and Carter v Bromsgrove, East Staffordshire v Rendell, Aylesbury v Call a Cab, to name but a few, show quite clearly that Parliament never intended that private hire vehicles were allowed to roam free unchecked and remotely licensed.
AT PHTM EXPO MILTON KEYNES MAIN SEMINAR - 1pm TUESDAY 31 MAY
APRIL 2022 9
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