FAQS...FAQS...FAQS...FAQS WHAT ABOUT PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS?
In respect of private hire fares, those are determined by each individual private hire operator in the area; the council has no governance over private hire fares – save the proviso that if PHVs in the area use meters, the following applies: Under section 71 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, “Nothing in this Act shall require any private hire vehicle to be equipped with any form of taximeter but no private hire vehicle so equipped shall be used for hire in a controlled district unless such taximeter has been tested and approved by or on behalf of the district council for the district or any other district council by which a vehicle licence in force for the vehicle was issued.”
Eh? Pardon? In simple terms, private hire vehicles fitted with meters are usually calibrated to the fares set by their individual operator; those calibrations should not be messed with, and the meter must be sealed, tested and approved by the council.
their terminals – not only to licensed vehicles but also private motorists. Again, in order for a taxi driver to recoup these charges, they must be set out on the tariff sheet.
Toll charges:
These include the charge for crossing a bridge, or the toll charge for using the faster M6 bypass route.
Carriage of animals: Straight off, we must stress that we do NOT mean assistance dogs here! It is an offence under the Equality Act 2010 for either hackney carriage or private hire vehicle drivers to charge for the carriage of assistance dogs of any kind (they are usually easily identified by their harness and labelled jackets). This is a charge for carrying the family pet, of any description – be it a dog, cat, parrot or python (on your head be it… not literally, we hope!)
And finally…
During the course of conducting one of the Association’s famous (local councils might call them infamous these days!) surveys, we were advised that one council allocates what they call an emergency fuel surcharge on their hackney tariff sheet: if the cost of fuel (either diesel or petrol) exceeds a certain figure, hackney drivers can increase their fare by either 20p, 40p or 60p per journey depending upon the strata of the fuel cost at the time. (Sorry guys: our UK fuel prices are nowhere near those bands at the moment.) There may be more than one council that allows for this; you know where to get in touch.
The most important aspect of all these extra charges is that they must be displayed on the hackney tariff sheet; otherwise the driver may not charge for them – to do so is an offence.
MARCH 2019
As to which extras a private hire driver may charge for, again these extras must be clearly set out on a company fare structure sheet and displayed within the operator base, as well as be made available to all passengers in each PHV working for that company.
Over the years we’ve come across a few situations whereby all the private hire operators in a particular licensing authority were getting together and agreeing to charge the same fares. Believe it or not, that was declared illegal (by the [then] Department of Trade and Industry), as it would constitute a cartel. So that is something else to bear in mind on the private hire side.
Similarly, since the Government enacted sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act 2010, it is now illegal for either hackney carriage or private hire drivers to make an extra charge to carry disabled passengers in their wheelchair, even though it may take more time both at pick-up and drop off destination to assist them in and out of the vehicle. However, the licensed vehicle (whether taxi or PHV) must appear on the council’s designated list of WAVs in order for this regulation to be enforced. And not all councils have drawn up such a designated list… as yet. Complicated, innit?
We’ve not gone into all the nuances of dealing with disabled passengers in wheelchairs, as regards the degree of assistance they may require, or the penalty for access refusal if a passenger wishes to travel with an assistance dog. We’re just looking at the pounds-and-pence aspect of carrying all types of passengers, and why our enquirer was right to make his enquiry.
As always, we welcome any editorial contributions, emails, Facebook comments, tweets on this subject… as for any industry related matter. The general public often comments about our industry: “I thought taxis (and PHVs) just took passengers from A to B.” Yes, that’s a fact… but there’s a lot more to doing that job properly than they think. Which is why we keep writing this newspaper: to spread the word, and to encourage everyone out there to do the same.
Donna Short National Private Hire and Taxi Association 0161 280 2800
www.npha.org.uk donnadale.npha@
btconnect.com
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