Andy Peters
Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association
info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk
It’s the month for fireworks, and here in Brighton & Hove there are certainly a lot of fireworks going off at the moment due to the councils proposed ‘Penalty Points System’ that has been sent out for consultation.
A lot of drivers are hitting the roof about this, and some may have good reason, but whilst I will refrain from giving my full opinion, what I can say is that I have nothing to fear.
What is interesting is that it is pretty much a weekly moan about hacks refusing fares at ranks because of the jobs only going a short distance. Even to the extent of a driver who was so fed up with a specific hack constantly refusing such fares that a video was taken and sent in to Licensing.
However, ironically there is a ‘Penalty Point’ clause that would take care of that:
“Refusal to accept hiring without reasonable cause e.g., Drunk, or rude customer - 3/12 points”
Based on the fact that the trade reps have repeatedly asked for the council to conduct a ‘Secret Shopper’ investigation because this is so rife, one would have thought that there would be an inclination to support the Penalty Points System just on this issue.
There is a Penalty Points clause on the appearance of the driver:
“Unsatisfactory appearance of driver as described in the Blue Book”.
For which you can get 3 points. The Blue Book reference to this is:
“The driver shall be clean and tidy in appearance. The driver shall at all times be dressed in a manner not to
members of the public. Suitable footwear.” 66
This of course is all very subjective because if we have any drivers who were thoroughbred Scots then of course the traditional attire could be viewed as being a ‘…cause of embarrassment to members of the public…’ when the driver stepped out of the vehicle, if you get the ‘angle’ I’m coming from.
At a recent Penalty Points meeting I had with two licensing officers and two trade representative colleagues, I had to make the comment that I remembered a time when Licensing Officers used to wear suits and ties, which I think went down reasonably well as they were both in very casual attire.
There is actually a serious side to a Penalty Points System in as much as there is absolutely no excuse for a licensed vehicle to have a defective tyre, so I don’t see how anyone could object to that proposal:
“A licensed vehicle with a defective tyre - 3 points” Another Penalty Point clause states:
“Drivers must not eat or drink whilst carrying passengers - 3 points”
Now, as I consider myself to be a professional driver, there is no way that I would be eating pork pie or supping tea out of a polystyrene cup whilst carrying passengers, and even when I was not carrying passengers. However, this has now been jumped on by drivers who are saying things along the lines of:
“Does that mean I can’t have sip of water when driving?” Boo hoo….and all that.
Well, for one thing, if any driver was spotted swigging from a bottle of Evian on the motorway by your friendly traffic police you could be pulled over for not being in control of a motor vehicle. But realistically, there should be common sense applied, because the average taxi journey is probably around eight minutes, so do you really need to have a sip of water on such a journey?
cause embarrassment to
However, even though I have nothing to fear from the proposed Penalty Points System, I can think of one good reason why it should not be put in place. This is simply because it cannot be applied to the hundreds
NOVEMBER 2023 PHTM
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