ALL THINGS LICENSING
requested. However the position in the judgement indicates that it is for the licensing authority to attach a suitable condition to an operator licence if it is concerned about disappointing expectations if a driver fails to arrive. Arguably disappointing expectations is the least of a customer’s worries if they are let down and it should be a given that if a vehicle is booked it will arrive, without the need for a condition.
This however creates the obvious discrepancy bet- ween operators in London, who do require to contract with passengers, and operators outside in the provinces where no contract is required. Whether this will result in operators leaving the big smoke to be licensed elsewhere, where contracts and VAT implications will not apply, remains to be seen, but is potentially considerably likely considering the impact this is expected to have, and obviously this will not help existing concerns about out of area working.
And what about councils?
For council’s, our role is to make sure drivers, vehicles and operators are safe. Part of that rationale of safety is to make sure that not only are drivers ‘fit and proper’, vehicles roadworthy and insured, but also that operators provide a service to customers when it is needed, i.e. a car shows up when a booking is accepted.
The judgement however describes passenger safety being “ensured by the suitability of the vehicle and the fitness and competence of the driver”. It continues that “the passenger is adequately protected if they know that, if anything goes wrong with the hire, they have contractual redress against the operator that accepted the booking.”
It is obviously a theme of the judgement that the person who made the booking may or may not be the putative passenger and it is the passenger who is to be protected; not anyone else. However in cases where the person making the booking is the passenger, they need to know that if they have made a booking that a car is going to arrive at the appointed time and place. Think a lone female wanting to get home in the dark after a night out; or family needing to catch a flight early in the morning. Having contractual redress doesn’t help the immediate need for that operator to be able to provide the service which has been booked in the circumstances above.
Naturally I recognise operators will mostly all do their best to ensure a service is provided when it has been
PHTM AUGUST 2024
Following from the judgement, for all the time that council’s will save in not having to check operators’ VAT and contractual arrangements, this time will be taken up in resolving potential complaints about unfulfilled journeys, or dealing with disputes about responsibility for an issue arising during a journey between operators and drivers in the event of a complaint.
Consequently, decisions around safety will be called very much into focus leading nicely onto news about the Institute’s consultation on the Review of the Suitability Guidance:
IOL CONSULTATION: REVIEW OF SUITABILITY GUIDANCE FOR TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE LICENSING
The IoL invites views from all interested parties on its draft revised guidance: ‘Suitability Guidance: Guidance on determining the suitability of applicants and licensees in the taxi and private hire industry’.
(link:
https://shorturl.at/jddE2)
The Guidance is intended to assist local licensing authorities in considering their own local licensing policies on determining the suitability of applicants and licence holders for taxi and private hire licensing.
The original guidance was published in April 2018, which was closely mirrored in the annex at section 10 of the Department for Transport’s Statutory Standards for Taxi and Private Hire Licensing, published in 2020. The review has been conducted by the IoL’s Suitability Guidance Working Group (the Suitability Group), chaired by Stephen Turner, Solicitor.
The group undertook an initial consultation exercise in September 2022, and received 114 responses as a result, all of which have been reviewed and considered by the Suitability Group in preparing this revised version.
The consultation is supported by an online
consultation survey which is available online:
https://shorturl.at/Myg25
A print version is also available to download. 61
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