Private hire and taxi
Insurance Specialists 01704 270 061
WAKEFIELD DRIVERS SCORE ‘LANDMARK’ WIN AGAINST COUNCIL’S LICENSING FEES
The High Court (HC) has quashed the licensing fees charged for hackney carriage and private hire vehi- cle licences set by Wakefield City Coun- cil (WCC), following a claim for judicial review by the Wake- field District Private Hire and Hackney Association. Millions of pounds could be paid out to taxi drivers after a ‘landmark’ court rul- ing found WCC has been overcharging for licensing fees for years. The HC found that the amount of money demanded from drivers was unlawful, and WCC now face a massive bill
held that the fees charged by WCC were unlawful.
In to reimburse
them all, backdated to 2004. The judicial review was brought after the council hiked up the cost of a licens- ing badge last year by 60 per cent to £384. His Honour Judge Saffman, sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court in Leeds,
particular, the coun- cil had wrongly interpreted section 70 of the Local Gov- ernment (Miscellan- eous Provisions) Act 1976 and had erro- neously charged the costs of enforcement against drivers to the control and supervi- sion of vehicles. Wakefield Council’s case had been that the costs were prop- erly accounted for against vehicles be- cause the errant drivers were driving vehicles. The learned judge described that as ‘stretching be- yond breaking point’ the language of the section. In the course of the action it became apparent that WCC has
overcharged
PHV licence fees by an aggregate sum in excess of £1million, which will form the subject of a claim for restitution. The judge made it clear that where Par-
liament has awarded local authorities a broad discretion (e.g. “such fee as they think reasonable”) the courts have upheld policies of full cost recovery on the sole ground that the policies, being rea- sonable, are legal and within their pow- ers; but where, as in section 70 LGMPA 1976, the power to charge a fee is cir- cumscribed by ref- erence to specific functions,
those
functions are res- tricted to those specified items – ie. enforcement
on
vehicles, not drivers. The Judge also re- fused WCC per- mission to appeal, but the council can make an application to the Court of Appeal. If the council is unsuccessful in an appeal, it is suggest- ed that the com- pensation
figure
could be much more than £1 million. Liz Ogden, interim city solicitor at WCC, confirmed they were
seeking permission to appeal the court decision,
adding:
“The High Court has ordered that new taxi licence fees are set by March 5 2019. “We will continue to issue taxi licences, although until the new fees have been set, we
cannot
charge vehicle fees. Once the fees have been re-set,
the
appropriate fee for vehicle licences and inspections will be due and payable by vehicle owners.” At the time of this edition going to press, the transcript of the case was not available; we shall be examining it in more detail when it is pub- lished. However, from the information to hand at the present time it is apparent that this was not just a case of a council “charging too much” for their licensing fees; rather it was the misappro- priation of those fees that could well cost the council dearly.
TAXI FLEET SPECIALISTS
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0113 259 3697
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SERVICES
Jan2019
Issue316
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