COVID VERSUS WHY NOW? BECAUSE IT’S TIME!
For the last few years we have been watching, waiting, and hoping for some kind of response from some kind of govern- ment body, having conducted surveys and research into how to bring the legislation up to date - as reported in great detail by our very own Donna Short in her feature on pages 62-65.
We have all been complaining about the fact that the licensing legislation is out of date, with the bulk of it emanating from the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 and the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. Well come on, we can all agree that those acts were written back in the days of horse and cart, before the invention of the telephone, and most definitely before the creation of mobile phones, smartphones, computers, the internet, social media, apps and automatic booking platform systems, so of course many aspects are out of date, right?
Well guess what: the Law Commission, the LGA, the IoL, NALEO, all the major stakeholders (organisations who represent a large section of the industry) agree wholeheartedly with you on this, and so do we.
Many, if not most local authorities, have been waiting around for some sort of steer as to what kind of approach they needed to take, what was about to change, what instructions were going to come from above. Why? Simply because the last thing anyone wanted to do was to go into full blown consultation in a direction they expected, only to find that the powers that be changed their mind at the last minute which would make the whole exercise pointless - which would be frustrating and annoying not only for officers and councillors, but for the industry and the trade representative bodies too, so they had to wait.
Allow me to clarify this a little further, or spell it out: • We had the Law Commission review, we waited, nothing happened.
• The Task and Finish Group was launched which conducted its own surveys and consultations in order to submit a very detailed report, so we waited.
• During this time, the Data Protection Act changed to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR); this was expected to make a whole raft of changes, so we had to wait. Not much change in practical terms.
• Then the Task and Finish recommendations came out, and we waited for a government response. The response came some four months later, which then triggered another con- sultation, so we waited; nothing changed.
• Brexit hit so we had to wait, nothing changed. • Brexit announcements were made, and the consultation ended, we waited for an update. • Covid hit and delayed everything.
22
During all the above events and delays, there was a series of announcements made including delays in the implementation of Clean Air Zones, delays in the implementation of new vehicle age restrictions being introduced, and many others which of course included the announcement from Grant Shapps which we addressed in our August edition. This included reference to the DBS, safeguarding and CCTV, a far cry from addressing the 34 recommendations made within the Task and Finish report, and no mention of addressing the cross-border issues which are closest to the hearts of the majority, on both sides of the equation; but an announcement of new regulatory requirements which had to be acted on by each local authority. That announcement by the DfT can be found here:
https://tinyurl.com/y53ecnrg
This all means that the waiting time is over; the consultations must begin. As a result we have seen consultations launched across the UK including so far: Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), Durham, Buckinghamshire, Colchester, Cambridge, the Welsh government which is looking to abolish either the hackney carriage or private hire sector completely and introduce a one-tier system; and many others, with many more to come in the early part of 2021.
But we have all suffered as a result of the impacts of Covid!
Indeed we have: taxi drivers, private hire drivers, private hire operators, trade suppliers,
local authorities,
companies, fuel supplies; this has had a knock-on effect on every single aspect of the supply chain, but the clock is still ticking, and change still needs to come.
Can we afford change right now? Well on the one hand, based on the sheer lack of government support financially for our industry, no - we cannot, there is no polite way to answer that, and no point even trying to underplay the affordability right now. With the trade down 80 per cent, vehicles being handed back or repossessed hand over fist, and no break in overheads, only the very lucky few who had very low overheads are in a position to even consider upgrading their vehicles - which leads me onto the next point.
YOU SIMPLY MUST RESPOND!!!
Far too often, and quite understandably, consultations are seen as nothing more than a box ticking exercise, written by people with absolutely no understanding of how the trade actually works at street level; no appreciation for the financial burdens, the abuse, the attacks, the thefts, the runners, but at the same time, the pleasure and delight of transporting the majority of the passengers in our daily role and duty.
You are absolutely right, and this is precisely the point of consultation: they are asking you for your views, for your concerns, they are asking you to explain how it actually works
JANUARY 2021 insurance
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