OUR INDUSTRY
There is a clear difference between drivers having a choice of operators to work for and being able to work for several of them at once.
CHARLOTTE
This is bunkum. Passengers, especially late at night, perhaps when they have had a few drinks will likely get into any vehicle that looks remotely like it could be licensed, because they just want to get home. As long as this passes without incident, they are content. The removal of all signage advertising any particular oper- ator serves to facilitate drivers working for multiple operators. This is in the interests of the p2p apps. It also enables drivers to wait for bookings in their vehicles in places of high footfall, without risk of prosecution for standing for hire, as defined by Gateshead v Henderson 2012. If they have no signage, they can cite Reading BC v Ali 2019 in their defence against any such prosecution. Again, this serves the interests of the p2p apps.
I sincerely doubt that removing advertising of private hire operators will reduce the temptation for passen- gers to try to hire PHVs without having booked them first. People tend to be subject to a process of pattern recognition when they are looking for a vehicle to take them home. Anything which indicates that a vehicle is licensed is part of an established pattern in their minds. If the pattern changes from signage advertising an operator to no signage except a licence plate, which would likely not be visible from the side of the vehicle anyway, potential passengers would instead look to see if there was a driver at the wheel of this car sitting outside a nightclub at 3 am... They may or not observe the licence plate at the rear as they approach it.
Removing signage places start-up companies at a disadvantage because they can no longer advertise by putting signs with their telephone numbers on the sides of their vehicles. All large operators, apart from the p2p apps, began as small ones. New competition from start-ups is healthy for the trade, for drivers and provides consumer choice. It should not be discouraged.
PHTM JUNE 2024
Imagine the following scenario: Charlotte, a 19-year-old student emerges from a nightclub at 2.30 am. She has been drinking, but not excessively. She is alone, having lost all her friends, and the battery on her iPhone died hours ago. She observes a hackney carriage vehicle on the rank opposite and approaches it, but other passengers have already taken it and it pulls away. Other taxis are on their way to the rank, but she cannot yet see any of them. She sees three private hire vehicles, two have signage advertising a local operator, the other one, a p2p app. She approaches one of them, it does not matter which. The driver tells her that he is booked, but directs her to two hackney carriage vehicles just pulling up at the rank. She crosses, takes the first one and arrives home safely about twenty minutes later.
Now imagine the same scenario again. This time, instead of three vehicles parked with signs advertising licensed operators, there are four vehicles, no signage (as determined by the DfT in their infinite wisdom and regard for public safety rather than corporate interests), each with a driver sitting at the wheel.
Three of the vehicles and drivers are licensed. The fourth is not. His dual hackney carriage/private hire driver’s licence was revoked by a council in another area a couple of years ago,
following a string of
complaints for inappropriate comments to lone female passengers late at night, and one serious allegation of sexual assault. Unfortunately there was insufficient evidence to secure any conviction. This (alleged) sexual predator has recently moved into the area. Which vehicle is Charlotte going to approach? From the side, the unlicensed vehicle looks just the same as the licensed ones. Just as she approaches one of these four vehicles with drivers, just like before, two hackney carriages pull up at the rank opposite.
Does Charlotte get home safely?
When licensed private hire vehicles are required to display signage advertising the operator, unlicensed vehicles will not blend in so easily in places of public resort late at night.
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