NOT A TAXI?
Now there are many who believe that a taxi or “hackney carriage” must also be a purpose-built vehicle such as a London-style “black cab” or specially converted minibuses with conference seating and a screen separating the passen- gers from the driver, and with no front passenger seat. In fact in some local authorities, that is indeed a licensing condition whereby they will not license a saloon car for hackney carriage use. But this is far from being a national condition, nor is it written into any legislation anywhere. The type of vehicle which is acceptable as a hackney carriage is a matter for each local authority to decide.
OK, SO WHAT IS NOT A TAXI?
A vehicle licensed as a PHV is a PHV only, not a taxi or hack- ney carriage. They cannot accept their own bookings directly (except in Scotland where they can accept their own bookings until they are operating three or more vehicles).
All bookings must be processed by a licensed PH operator (booking office for Scotland) and then passed onto the PHV driver during the process of “operating” those vehicles and the private hire booking.
Private hire vehicles cannot: • sit on a taxi rank and ply for hire • patrol the areas looking for potential passengers • be flagged down in the street • appear to be available for immediate hire • appear to be the same as a hackney carriage or taxi
WHICH CAME FIRST?
In essence, the whole private hire regime is a spin off from the taxi industry, the private hire sector simply did not exist at all until the invention and popularity of the telephone. Why? Because there was no way for any passenger to “pre book” or “ring” a taxi, all passengers had to rely on a taxi rank, or a vehicle approaching that they could “hail” or flag down. This is why it has always been so important that taxi ranks are clearly visible and located near to popular areas such as bus or train stations, shopping areas or pubs and restaurants.
WHY CAN PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS AND VEHICLES NOT WORK THE SAME WAY?
This one is simple to answer, all drivers decide the way in which they want to work when choosing which licence to apply for. If the decision is to have a saloon vehicle, without a roof light, and focus on pre-booked jobs without having to take bookings themselves, then they can choose to have the limited ability of being a private hire driver. If the decision is to be able to be flagged down, take your own bookings and build your own business, or to make yourself available for immediate hire, then you select the hackney carriage licence.
JULY 2021
This means in reality, that the decision of how you wish to work is made by you at the time of applying for a licence.
IS THE USE OF “TAXI ONLY’ SIGNAGE REALLY AN ISSUE?
Absolutely on many levels! It is factually and lawfully incorrect. But the implications have far more drastic consequences. 1. If the sign states “taxi only”, then a PHV may NOT use those chargers, nor may it even stop on that bay, the signage is perfectly clear.
2. If a PHV is parked on a marked taxi bay, then an offence is committed.
3. Since the bay states “taxi only” then the taxi sector would be within their rights to refuse to allow PHVs on that bay.
4. Since the provision is not made for PHVs, there is a reduced number of available charging points for PHVs, which has an impact on the move towards EVs.
5. If indeed the term “taxi only” means PHVs are allowed, then the flood gates could open for PHVs to park on taxi ranks, which use the same term of “taxi only”.
6. The use of bus lanes where the signage is clear: “bus, cycles and taxi only”, would then include PHVs.
7. If the above point is valid, then every single bus lane ticket ever issued to a PHV must be refunded with immediate effect, since the signage being “colloquial” would suggest that none of those tickets should ever have been issued.
8. There will be heated “discussions” between taxi drivers and PHV drivers when PHV drivers use “taxi only” bays.
WHAT MUST HAPPEN! DECISION’S DECISIONS
a) The extra three words “AND PRIVATE HIRE” need to be added to all signage on all charging points immediately together with a formal apology issued to both the hackney carriage and private hire sectors within the region for the confusion caused by the serious error. OR....
b) All PHVs issued with bus lane penalty notices must be refunded to the total value of any and all such penalty charges, since the use of the word “taxi” meant that they were allowed to be there, rendering the tickets invalid.
c) National legislation including the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 must be changed to reflect local council opinion on the meaning of the word “taxi”.
A TAXI IS A HACKNEY CARRIAGE VEHICLE! A PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE IS NOT A TAXI!
The range of issues we encounter and are asked to get involved with never ends. If you have any such issues or problems then get in touch.
JOIN NOW!!
www.nphta.co.uk 53
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