ALL THINGS LICENSING
A NATIONAL STANDARD FOR PHV LICENSING – FOLLOW UP TO JAMES BUTTON’S ARTICLE
Article by Mike Smith, Senior Specialist for Licensing and Community Safety at Guildford Borough Council and Vice-Chair of the Institute of Licensing South East Region.
Please note that this article represents my own views which are not presented as the views of the Institute of Licensing or Guildford BC.
The recent article in May’s PHTM (available at: PHTM May 2024 Issue 380: 24 (
yudu.com)) and subsequent talk at thePHTMExpo by noted licensing solicitor and author, James Button, on a potential National Stan- dard for private hire licensing has sparked much debate amongst both licensing authorities and the trade.
It is worth pointing out at the start of this month’s feature that the original article, as well as my take on it, are the views of the authors in their capacity of having an interest in the sector and not those of the IoL or any other organisation.
Certainly with taxi licensing reform conspicuously absent from the election manifestos of all major political parties we are potentially faced with another parliamentary period of this being kicked into the long grass, meaning it will take those involved and wanting change to do something about it. The glimmer of hope is that party manifestos don’t always contain everything which a party propose to do, so there may be some hope for the Kings Speech on 17 July announcing any next Government’s legislative plans.
Quite whether the drastic option of having one principal authority is the solution remains to be seen, even if one is willing or able to put their head above the parapet and offer to take on the responsibility.
Undoubtedly it would resolve the issue of incon- sistency which is subject of complaint between areas. With private hire licensing becoming an increasingly global phenomenon over the last ten years it is unsurprising that the proposal has been well received by the larger operators, with the prospect of having just one licensing authority and set of standards to deal with. For smaller operators, there is perhaps a strong argument in favour too for potentially lesser
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standards and lower fees which they may be subject to currently.
For many council’s struggling with reducing licence holders and increasing pressures of out of area working then there is also likely to be a desire to shift to this model and if it works in the way set out, where satellite councils are able to retain staff to deal with the private hire trade working in their areas by being reimbursed by the administrative authority, then this would probably be an improvement in the current situation.
However, the crux of the success of any scheme will depend on unilateral agreement between all 260 plus councils which currently deliver private hire licensing which is where any potential national solution is bound to fail. I cannot see councils of different political, geographical and socio-economic statuses being able to agree on either the idea or detail of a national solution. It is hard enough to try and get consistency between councils in one county, let alone nationally. Let’s remember that the recent Levelling Up proposals recommended that licensing moved from district and boroughs to upper tier authorities and there has been no forward movement on this change.
With areas being so different currently, details such as a consistent policy, reimbursement of staff at different levels and on different terms and conditions, inconsistency in decision making will all need to be addressed which unfortunately is likely to be a step too far. It also would take some time for any scheme to gain traction, but would only take a few reluctant councils to undermine the whole thing.
Legislatively, under section 101 Local Government Act 1972, local authorities may make arrangements for other local authorities to discharge their functions. As such, whilst it is possible for a council to delegate a function to another, there are potentially some issues which may affect driver, vehicle and operator licensing which will need to be ironed out:
For drivers: whilst private hire drivers would be licensed by the Principal Authority and hackney carriage drivers continued to be licensed locally; there are many councils who offer a dual HC and PH driver licence giving drivers the option to use either type of
JULY 2024 PHTM
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