Andy Peters Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk
Intended Use Policy – local update
Update from last month where I tackled the Uber rep at a recent trade meeting for using Mid Sussex District Council hackneys in the city here and the rep being very dismissive, despite these having an IUP as a condition of licence with reported (by us) drivers/proprietors working here and being warned of the consequences of breaking that condition. Further to more reports, Mid Sussex licensing informed me that Uber has now taken their hackneys off their platform.
Quite a victory in my book and shows that the IUP works! It will also work with PHVs.
Not our problem
Like everywhere in the country, Brighton is flooded with out-of-town cars, as I always point out in my ramblings. Down here in the south it seems that Chichester is now taking over from Lewes DC in being the place
to get a rubber-stamped licence.
Unfortunately, the drivers of some of these PHVs (and from everywhere else) don’t give a ‘monkeys-whatsit’ what they do to the extent of creating ranks, sitting on taxi ranks or right up close to them teetering on the yellow box lines. It sadly seems there is a new breed of drivers now with absolutely no respect.
Having reported this to my own licensing department, they suggested that I also report it, with photo evidence of the offending drivers/cars, to their respective licensing authorities. OK, I thought, but I know what the reply will be. So I sent off a report with such photographic evidence to Chichester District Council licensing, and sure enough the polite reply was along the lines of: ‘Nothing to do with us, please report this to your own licensing department’.
However, shortly afterwards, and probably due to the intervention of Brighton & Hove City Council licensing following this up with me having passed the email on to them, I did receive a follow up email from Chichester informing me that an email will be sent to all their drivers warning them about sitting on/next to taxi ranks.
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I have asked for an update as to whether this was sent, but at the time of writing I have not had a reply but if it is sent, I will ask for a copy.
Interestingly, via correspondence, Chichester licensing informed me that they do not have the resources for a Licensing Enforcement team, and with the massive increase in Chichester PHVs one wonders if it is a case of stamping the licensing and ‘Be on your way’. I have to state that I do have some sympathy as getting a licence in an area but having no intention of working there is, unfortunately, now the norm.
This then makes a completely mockery of ‘POAW’ predominantly out of area working, more commonly known as ‘cross-border hiring’ when, as I have previously stated most local authorities do not have the facility or means for a taxi/PH licensing department, unlike we have in Brighton, unfortunately resulting in an out-of-sight and out-of- mind attitude. Not that this is the fault of local councils, but the fault of those men in suits and over- paid barristers who have broken the system. Yet the government seems to think that such dedicated licensing enforcement is taken for granted, but in reality, know sod all about this.
Wolverhampton communication I have
had interesting communications with
Wolverhampton licensing following the report from Portsmouth about an allegation of a Wolverhampton PHV driver harassing a woman:
“The 44-year-old woman said the man made sexualised remarks, delayed unlocking the door and hovered his hand over her leg as she tried to leave the vehicle on Wednesday.”
Based on this incident I questioned as to why Wolverhampton refuses to have CCTV as a mandatory condition of licence, suggesting the reason being that it would have to be the data-controller for the 29,173 PHVs it licenses. This figure is taken from the government’s own database, dated as of July 2024, and no doubt whatsoever has greatly increased since with some stating nearing 40k.
On a side note, looking at the database as of that date, there were 145 hackney carriages totalling all together 29,318 licensed vehicles of which there were only, wait for it…. 66 WAVs, which is appalling in my view. The population of Wolverhampton as of 2025 is 253k, that gives one licensed vehicle for around every nine
AUGUST 2025 PHTM
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