A view from the trade by B. M. ROLAND Opinion
THE NATIONAL PRIVATE HIRE ASSOCIATION 8 SILVER ST BURY BL9 0EX TEL: 0161 280 2800 FAX: 0161 280 7787 e-mail:
npha@btconnect.com
“Time” 4 “Change” (I don’t think so!)
So here we are, over halfway through the year, waiting for August to arrive in the hope that summer might start. But in the meantime we have two fur- ther consultations: the first one on drivers’ hours rules, and the second on Section 19 designated bodies.
All right, calm down, calm down, what’s it got to do with taxis?! These are two pretty big consultation documents; there’s no way we could print them in the paper in their entirety, or we wouldn’t be able to get it through your letterbox. But as usual, if you go onto the DfT website and click on “consul- tations”, you will get the full details so you can then print them off and give yourself something to do in between the occasional job. Let me explain the Section 19 bodies first: Under the Road Transport Acts, vehicles that carry paying passengers are called public service vehicles. Ordinarily any organisation that accepts any sort of payment for providing transport for passengers must obtain a PSV licence from the Traffic Com- missioners. Under the Section 19 permit scheme, non-profit making organisations can make a charge to passengers for providing transport without having to obtain an operator’s licence.
There is a list of national bodies that are designated to issue permits to their members, which in effect means that they don’t have to hold a licence. Now remember before I go any further: up to last year, these permits only cov- ered small vehicles with over eight seats. In the Transport Act it now covers all vehicles, not just large minibuses. Yes, that includes saloon cars. And who can give out these permits? Well, people like Age Concern, Arthri- tis Care, Community Transport Association, the British Red Cross Society, St John’s Ambulance - all of which groups you will be familiar with. But there are quite a lot of other groups which can hand out these permits that you might not have realised, like the Boys’ Brigade and the Girls’ Brigade; the
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Camping and Caravanning Club; the Crusaders’ Union; the English Olympic Wrestling Association, amongst others.
All of these groups are highlighted by phone calls received in this office on a regular basis, the caller asking, “’Ere - they haven’t got any licences - is this right?” You’ll find the full list on page 13, together with the letter about the consultation; and if you do have issues with some of these groups in your area, you may well want to put pen to paper and respond. Our next consultation is on time... that is to say, hours worked. Readers will remember in years gone past the articles I have written each time Europe threatens to impose time limits on drivers’ hours as being not applicable, attachable or enforceable on our industry. But listening to MPs on the news recently, there is indeed growing concern about taxi drivers’ hours. There is a petition at 10 Downing Street urging Par- liament to do something about it. At this very moment along comes this consultation document. I get the feeling that there might be a little red flag waving here... Yes, I know it would be totally ludicrous to try to impose time limits on our industry. It would certainly destroy the independent hackney carriage pro- prietors, as most of their time is spent sitting on the rank and wasting time. That’s what it is increasingly today, due to the present financial circum- stances... it’s a simple fact that there are not as many people taking taxis off the rank.
Although there are many exceptions, in simple terms the main time limits for working in the EU rules are:- • 9 hours’ maximum daily driving • 56 hours’ maximum weekly driving • 90 hours’ maximum fortnightly driving • 11 hours’ minimum daily rest • 45 hours’ minimum weekly rest • 45 minute breaks for every four hours and 30 minutes’ driving
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