Andy Peters
Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk
It’s not always bad news all the time for the trade here, although it usually seems that way. But for once I was actually able to produce a natural smile without any effort where it’s usually a “Hello Councillor” smile (which can sometimes take an effort for some of them). The smile I am referring to here was actually very genuine.
This is because Lewes Council, which is next door to us and has supplied Uber its drivers that predominantly work
here ‘out-of-sight’ & ‘out-of-mind’ of any
respective local enforcement, were due to make what we considered to be a life changing decision for the Brighton & Hove cab trade.
Briefly, as I reported last month, some dim-wit at Lewes Council came up with a proposal to change from having a dual-licence (to drive a hackney & private hire) to having a single licence for each. The council only had the dual licence in place for a relatively short time and now wanted to revert back to single ones. The issue being that there would then be less requirements on the knowledge test to get a private hire licence. The absurd point here is that the knowledge test for Lewes doesn’t even need much knowledge.
The proposal was based on a ridiculous claim from the ex-Licensing Chair that Lewes is desperate for drivers as quoted in the local Lewes rag. This was totally untrue and I submitted a four-page document to the council and every Lewes licensing councillor, stating the clear facts on such numbers taken from the government’s online local authority stats to dispute that claim in the hope to persuade them to reject the proposal.
I also made the point that should Lewes Council decide to support the proposal then it will become the ‘Wolverhampton of the South’.
The consultation which was open to public, actually showed that there was absolutely no support for the proposal so that was a very good start, and I’m sure that many drivers here took part in that. But we all know how things like this go, where there is determination from a council to do whatever it wants, come-what-may. However, in this case I am very pleased that the Lewes licensing councillors took note
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and made the decision not to support the proposal meaning the ‘dual-licence’ remains and the knowledge test is kept as is.
It feels me with horror as to what would have happened if the decision had gone the other way. This is because here in Brighton we have seen a downfall in the number of drivers getting licensed locally over the last few years since Uber arrived and fully promoted potential drivers not to bother getting licensed in Brighton but to instead go down the easy licence route in Lewes. Of course that never meant working in Lewes but predominantly here, plugged in to their earphones whilst being fed directions to get around the city. So, if the decision had gone the other way, then the flood gates into Brighton & Hove from Lewes would have been lifted.
I am also pleased that Lewes Council also adopted, word for word, the ‘Driver & Customer Charter’ that I wrote for the Brighton & Hove trade a few years ago which is on the councils website.
So, that is a good start to 2024!
DfT BEST PRACTICE GUIDANCE Firstly, once again, the DfT has side-stepped pre- dominant cross-border hiring with no mention of Section 46 LGMPA 1976 (thank you Lee Ward and Mark Jennings) and the inherent issues this has caused, and passes the buck (again) by suggesting that cash- strapped councils should work together (on cross-border hiring). It’s quite clear that the DfT is clueless about the fact that some LAs are even more clueless.
However, having read through this long-awaited document my own view is that it’s bland with nothing radical.
I did note that there was a recommendation for no need for a private hire driver to undertake a knowledge test. Now, I find this quite odd and even dare I say, hypercritical, because within the document it refers to (all) drivers as being ‘Professional Drivers’. It also set out the standards that should be required for things like CSE, disability training, vocational training. Yet as far as the DfT is concerned a private hire driver doesn’t need to know where they’re going?
It actually states:
“Private hire vehicles are not legally available for immediate hiring. To hire a PHV the prospective passenger must go through an operator; the operator should gather sufficient information from the
JANUARY 2024 PHTM
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