INSPECTIONS OUT OF AREA -
TAXI DRIVERS LICENCES SUSPENDED FOR TRAVELLING TO LIVERPOOL FOR WORK
Eight taxi drivers from outside of Liverpool were recently stopped by officers, following a Merseyside police and Liverpool City Council crackdown. On Friday 18 December, taxi drivers, from areas including Bolton, had their licences suspended or were issued with defect notices for travel- ling into Merseyside from Tier 3 areas. Police were carrying out the opera- tion across Merseyside that weekend to deter taxi drivers travelling from
IS THIS RIGHT
The above article was published in the Liverpool Echo on 19 December and subsequently posted on our PHTM Facebook page, where it triggered a whole array of opinions and responses. This clearly showed the desperate need for some clarity on the topic; With this in mind we asked NPHTA board member Steven Toy, to explain in the following paragraphs the legalese on the topic of officer inspections, particularly those performed by officers from other local authorities.
WHAT DOES THE LEGISLATION SAY?
A couple of years ago a driver licensed elsewhere dropped off in Manchester, and was approached by a licensing officer from Manchester City Council who asked to see his badge and presumably to have a look around his vehicle.
The driver ended up in the Magistrates’ Court and was successfully prosecuted for refusing to cooperate with the officer. Or “obstructing an officer in the line of his duty” This sorry tale reminds me of a couple of my favourite sayings: “A little learning is a dangerous thing”, attributed to Alexan- der Pope about four hundred years ago or thereabouts; and another more recent one from Bertrand Russell: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the fools are cocksure while the wise are full of doubt.”
The phenomenon was confirmed by a couple of psychological scientists, David Dunning and Justin Kruger through their research back in 1999. If your curiosity gets the better of you, and this is no bad thing in itself, just enter Dunning-Kruger into a Google search.
This driver had basically decided that he did not need to 10
out of town and to identify uninsured or defective vehicles. Superintendent Chris Gibson said: “We’re carrying out this action for three important reasons. “Firstly, to stand alongside our local taxi community, who have already felt the massive financial impact of restric- tions. The last thing they need, is taxis from outside the area competing for their reduced trade. “Secondly, the risk of drivers travelling to Merseyside from Tier 3 and other areas is plain to see, and I want to be
clear that we will not tolerate it. “Thirdly, and regardless of where drivers are travelling from, our Roads Policing Unit continues to work tirelessly to identify any defec- tive or unlicensed vehicles, which can cause huge risks for companies, drivers and their customers. “I’d encourage all taxi drivers and operators to regularly check your vehicles. Keeping our roads safe is vita as we know too well the devas- tation that serious collisions can cause.”
cooperate with a licensing officer who was not from his own licensing authority.
The advice was poor because it was a half-truth.
The lesson here is not to rely on hearsay. We should all check the facts for ourselves by making reference to either primary legislation, case law and/or other referenced sources.
It is certainly true that only an officer from your own area, a police constable or an authorised officer may inspect your vehicle if you have dropped off a passenger or are otherwise stationary on the roadside.
Section 68 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 states: Fitness of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles. Any authorised officer of the council in question or any constable shall have power at all reasonable times to inspect and test, for the purpose of ascertaining its fitness, any hackney carriage or private hire vehicle licensed by a district council, or any taximeter affixed to such a vehicle, and if he is not satisfied as to the fitness of the hackney carriage or private hire vehicle or as to the accuracy of its taximeter he may by notice in writing require the proprietor of the hackney carriage or private hire vehicle to make it or its taximeter available for further inspection and testing at such reasonable time and place as may be specified in the notice and suspend the vehicle licence until such time as such authorised officer or constable is so satisfied:
Provided that, if the authorised officer or constable is not so satisfied before the expiration of a period of two months, the said licence shall, by virtue of this section, be deemed to have been revoked and subsections (2) and (3) of section 60 of this Act shall apply with any necessary modifications.
JANUARY 2021
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