Continued from page 9


With that I heartily agree: central government is currently look- ing into this whole cross-border scenario, along with countless other ills befalling our industry, via the Task and Finish Group, whose Chair has now submitted a report to the current Trans- port Minister which should be considered and replied to over the next few (?) months. In Due Course… you know where that is. When the embargo is lifted, you’ll get the full picture – right here.


Anyway, back to that phone call I took the other week. The gen- tleman came on rather peeved (polite version), having read our July edition, and asked me what problems I had with cross-bor- der. I replied that, as it had originally been intended under the Deregulation Act – that is, the sub-contracting of one booking – I have no problems with the concept as it allows for bona fide companies to legally expand their businesses across neighbour- ing borders, provided they hold all the relevant licences and dispatch their drivers and vehicles accordingly.


What I did/do object to is the wanton issue of licences by one licensing authority to applicants who have no intention of work- ing in that district, and end up working for private hire operators – who have piggybacked their operator licence in offices already licensed for a resident operator – literally hundreds of miles away from the council that issued those licences. It makes a mockery of local enforcement, local provision and local income to the area. But then the Chair of Wolverhampton’s licensing committee thinks that is an archaic concept.


My caller – who by the way is based in Kent - then admitted that his was just one of those companies that are doing all this, and had to go down that road because his local licensing authority is so very user-unfriendly and uncooperative, not to mention slow as molasses in January as regards processing licence applications and renewals. As he pointed out, he’s try- ing to run a business; far from having a glut of drivers round his way, he’s struggling to get drivers. Why? Because his council is taking over 20 weeks to process an application. Wolverhampton can do it in less than 20 days. A no-brainer, right?


So he was acting out of financial necessity, simple as. Does that make it right – or wrong? There are other licensing areas that take over a year to process a licence; one in particular hasn’t granted a driver licence in two years. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention… or in the case of our industry, the finder- out of the next available loophole. And the Deregulation Act


has provided just that: a subtle but powerful loophole the size of a moon crater.


Until and unless this entire situation is addressed by central gov- ernment, you can stage as many demonstrations and go-slows, send in as many petitions signed by hundreds and thousands as you like… but nothing will change without a major overhaul by a government whose (previous… they change so regularly it’s dif- ficult to keep track) Transport Minister never replied to the Law Commission’s proposals and draft Bill from four years ago. The needle’s stuck again…


Right: If you remember, last month we announced that this newspaper (and the National Association) is mounting a cam- paign on behalf of driver safety. You’ll see a spread of more news items in this month’s edition, where drivers have been injured or their wellbeing has otherwise been seriously threat- ened. Our intention is to try to reverse this trend, and to that end I have written to all 44 Offices of the Police and Crime Com- missioners across the entire country, asking for guidance as to where we might source funding to assist in the purchase of in- car CCTV equipment for as many licensed drivers/proprietors as possible across the country.


The initial difficulty with this is that the OPCC is local in nature; it covers entire counties – thus several licensing authorities in some cases - but we cannot go for national funding across the board via this route. Nevertheless, we shall be writing to those OPCCs who have indicated that there may be a possibility of a funding boost in their area. One or two indicated that they would not be able to accede to our request because we’re talk- ing about subsidising “profitable businesses” (you try telling most taxi and PHV drivers they are a profitable business!); and that if the drivers require this sort of protection they should pay for it themselves. They don’t say that to bus, train or Tube drivers, do they??!!


It is also our intention to contact every licensing authority in the country and ask about their current position on CCTV, and whether any funding is available in their area. You know how the Association is always conducting these surveys: the latest (which should be in next month’s edition) is about knowledge testing of applicants. So the next one will be an update about CCTV: does the council mandate; if not, does it support the use of such equipment; and if so, does it have a set criteria and a list of approved suppliers. If you remember from last month’s edi- tion, there is more to this CCTV business than just sticking a dash cam in the car… which product incidentally commits a breach of the Data Protection Act.


We’ve also designed a sticker (or card) for inside each licensed vehicle, basically stating a zero tolerance of abuse and violence. This design will be submitted to every licensing authority in the UK for their approval – which has to take place, as it is a display of information inside the vehicle and some councils have restric- tions about such displays. We’ll keep you posted on that, and if the sticker is approved by your council, advise you as to how you can get quantities of the item.


At least this particular subject matter has stirred some stumps around the place; we’ve had the largest response to the content of our July edition – in particular our driver safety campaign – than we have had in some considerable time. This is quite help- ful: it tells us that (a) you read our humble tome; and (b) you feel as strongly as we do about improving driver safety. Keep those emails and phone calls coming!


Until next time, sayonara. 10 AUGUST 2018


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