busy bar, nightclub, supermarket, transport hub without a booking or any other justifiable reason for being there, they commit the offence of plying for hire, whether or not they actually pick up any passengers, in accordance with Gateshead v Henderson 2012
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5a8ff72660d0 3e7f57ea89e3
However, a private hire vehicle which isn’t available for immediate hire and can only be booked through a licensed operator should still be easily identifiable as a licensed vehicle, not least by police and local authority licensing enforcement officers.
If a driver is unlawfully plying for hire, the passenger is an innocent party as no offence is committed by them. The risk of the journey being uninsured may be one they are willing to take when their primary concern is to get home, especially late at night. Their judgement may also be impaired if they are intoxicated.
Signs stating:
Be booked, be insured Private Hire only Pre-booked only
may be useful to educate the travelling public and ensure their safety but they are by no means fool proof. Imagine a young woman late at night leaving a nightclub. She is alone, having been separated from her friends, vulnerable and more than slightly intoxicated. She wants to get home. There is a hackney carriage stand across the way, but directly in front of her is a private hire vehicle parked. It has door signs stating: “Pre-booked only” and no other signage apart from a local authority licence plate on the rear bumper.
The inference of that door sign should be obvious but the implication on her part may be entirely different. Her rea- soning is likely to be that it is a ‘taxi’ and if she speaks to the driver nicely he will take her home since in her mind, she has booked the trip before she got in the vehicle.
Therefore, the onus of ensuring that passengers do not board private hire vehicles without a booking rests squarely with the driver and not the passengers. If a private hire driver waits in a place of high footfall such as outside a
JULY 2022
Whilst we agree that roof signs should only be affixed to hackney carriages, they can also be magnetic and can therefore be stolen. We would therefore recommend that licensing authorities allow magnetic door signs. They should also allow both door and roof signs to be removed and placed in the boot when the vehicle is parked or otherwise not working, to prevent theft and reduce the risk of vandal- ism, especially as licensed vehicles are frequently targeted.
Naturally, the licence plate identifying the vehicle as such should be permanently fixed as its licensed status does not change from moment to moment. The vehicle must only ever be driven by a driver licensed by the same authority regardless how the vehicle is used at any given time.
In order to maximise the number of drivers and vehicles, cor- porate interests seek to remove barriers of entry to the trade both for vehicles and drivers, all of which otherwise serve the public interest. A conflict of interest therefore exists between operators, particularly the on-demand app platforms on the one hand and driver/public safety on the other. The role of the regulator is to strike the appropriate balance between the two. We need to ensure that demand by the travelling public is met but we also need to ensure that drivers can earn a living wage without working excessive hours. Drivers’ hourly earnings should always be more than the minimum wage on average after fixed and running costs and this should include the time spent waiting for work.
We believe that this balance can be struck by ensuring a level playing field for all operators as well as consumer and driver choice.
VEHICLE LICENSING – AGE LIMITS
Scrapping age limits altogether serves only aforementioned corporate interests, as such limits pose a barrier of entry when on-demand services require as many drivers and vehi- cles as possible to function without dynamic pricing causing wild fluctuations in fares for journeys during periods of high demand. Rather than propose the compromising of vehicle standards, passengers could be encouraged instead to choose to book journeys in advance through an operator providing such a service or agree a lead time, rather than pay a premium for on-demand-only services.
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