Andy Peters Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk
Firstly, I hope you all got what you deserved for Christmas.
We start another year, which for me will be the beginning of forty-three years in the trade. During that time, there have been several periods of uncertainty regarding job security for both myself and colleagues, plus various challenges along the way, leading to serious consideration being given to changing my direction numerous times. But, I can state without any doubt that last year has paved the way to such unparalleled uncertainty that I could kick myself for not getting out when I had the chance.
Before I begin my rant, I would like to make it very clear that I have no political leaning one way or another. My only political support is for those individuals in power, from whatever standing, who show that they understand and care for the trade on a local basis.
I will start with the situation where the government has decreed that in a few areas, including Brighton & Hove, voting for the newly appointed position of superpower ‘God Mayors’ for the supposed newly created devolved areas will now be delayed until 2028. Not that anyone knows the details of what these new devolved areas will be and how smaller areas will be swallowed up into ‘one size fits all’. The only certainty is that this government seems to despise localism which is exactly at the heart of the local taxi/PH trades. Apparently, there will still be ‘local’ Mayors for locally elected councillors to undertake local duties, so we will have a two-tier Mayoral system. Effectively a ‘God Mayor’ with almighty powers and a local ‘Underling Mayor’ to cut ribbons and shake hands.
This delay is quite a disruption because I know that down here there have been several candidates from various parties and backgrounds who have been eagerly promoting themselves, either independently or via a political party. Whilst I would categorically disagree with the whole notion of devolution which should be scrapped, you can imagine the disruption that this delay will mean to those people having to hold fire for two years, or even if they can still stand.
Where am I going with this? Well, for all intents and purposes, when elected, these new ‘God Mayors’ will
56
have certain powers to make decisions on matters, such as transportation, and at the moment we don’t know if this means the taxi and PH trades? Nor do we know if this means that local councils, which have always had the job of taking into account the localisation of the taxi and PH trade, will then have that responsibility snatched away or how we will all operate under this new superpowered ‘God Mayor’, when several ‘local’ licensing areas are all combined?
Where do we all stand? So many questions!
For example; this year we will be revising our ‘Blue Book of Conditions of Licensing for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire, Drivers, Vehicles and Operators’ which is carried out every three years, where I roll up my
sleeves to ensure that conditions are still
acceptable and nothing is sneaked in. Is this going to be a waste of time and effort if we a going to be thrown into a massive devolved pot with some faceless entity creating new conditions of licensing for a huge devolved area?
Also, it looks like some local elections will be cancelled again, which includes Brighton & Hove, because of the impending devolution that no one to date has any clue about!
Will devolution, if and when it ever comes, have a massive impact on the both the taxi/PH trades or just the PH trade? If this is to include the taxi (hackney) trade then what happens with these new larger areas with regards to the knowledge tests and ranks? Also, what happens to the hackney fare structure where the current local authorities along with the local licensing committees negotiate with the local trade and set the fares based on parameters that are contained within the specific local conditions of licensing?
What will happen to the local taxi/PH Trade Forums, where the local trade reps, licensing officers, councillors and police reps have regular meetings to throw buns at each other, such has been long established here? Will we all become faceless numbers to our new ‘God Mayor’ in much the same way that Uber drivers are to Uber?
Certainly, there is a lot of guess work going on because absolutely nothing has been set out and that is grossly unfair to all of us that work in both trades where we need to plan ahead. The government has already stated it wants to reduce the 340 or so current licensing areas down to 70, which I claim is based on the ‘mythical Uber regions’, and furthermore, hand
JANUARY 2026 PHTM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70
