Opinion
HURRY UP AND WAIT…
Now, where have our loyal PHTM readers seen that expression before? Mainly in this column, as it’s one of my favourite phrases to describe the appalling lack of progress being made within the taxi and private hire industry in this country.
Think about it: with some 354 different licensing authorities doing their own thing locally, empowered to do so by some of the most antiquated legislation on record, the United Kingdom probably has the most over-regulated road passenger transport industry in the world… and yet look at what a mess it is in – most likely for these very reasons.
Those who have been in the trade for a bit of a while will know that various attempts have been made to improve the state of the indus- try over the past couple of decades. The most notorious endeavours that stand out would be the 1994 Green Paper on taxi/PHV industry reform; that nearly got to White Paper stage, but then a General Election heralded a new political party with a change of Transport Minister, less interest and enthusiasm for our plight, and everything ground to a halt.
More recently of course was the Law Commission project: following two and a half years’ nationwide research by five lawyers, and half a
million pounds devoted to the cause, a set of proposals and a draft Bill covering a wide programme of legislative reform was presented to Government in 2014… and there it sat, where it is still sitting.
In the meantime, two clauses pertaining to the industry were tacked onto a 6,000-strong set of regulations known as the Deregulation Act 2015. Bless it, that unfortunate piece of legislation has been blamed for everything – we believe incorrectly – that has gone wrong with the trade since then. All it was trying to do was to legit- imise the practice which frankly had been going on for decades anyway: the sub-contracting of one private hire booking to a pri- vate hire operator across a council border.
Meanwhile, during the time the Law Commission material was being developed, and then languishing on the Minister’s desk awaiting a reply – which as you know never materialised – the complexion of this industry changed beyond all recognition: a major app-based company appeared on the scene and drove a truck (pardon the expression) through the very foundations of the private hire trade… and didn’t do the hackney trade any good either.
The Uber business model was here to stay: some have accepted the idea, heaving a sigh and ultimately being pushed aside, never to resurface. Others have recognised the urgent need to up their game, and have devised their own app, or worked together with other transport providers in soft merger schemes, or amalgamated into large, very strong conglomerates with the financial wherewithal to invest heavily in I.T, human resources and marketing.
However, the fact remains that this monumental change in the nature of the industry was not being kept up with as regards its own regulation; that, plus the fact that increasing liberties were being taken particularly in relation to cross-border private hire provision entirely remotely outside one’s own licensing area.
With that in mind, John Hayes, MP for South Holland and the Deep- ings (now Sir John Hayes) proposed in the Commons in July 2017 that a Task and Finish group be assembled to examine the current
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