CROSS-BORDER HIRING – A MISSED OPPORTUNITY!
Article by Dave Lawrie, Director NPHTA 0161 280 2800
info@nphta.co.uk
On Monday 21 October, the Labour MP for Harlow, Chris Vince, initiated an important long-awaited parliamentary debate on cross-border hiring. He correctly highlighted the dire consequences it has on the livelihoods of locally licensed taxi and private hire drivers, as well as the difficulty with cross-border enforcement checks which could impact public safety.
However, he mistakenly linked this practice to the Deregulation Act 2015, which is simply not the case; and unfortunately, he and other MPs also continued to quote further incorrect and misleading information throughout the discussion.
So, whilst the attention to this subject is much appreciated, a deeper understanding both by the MP raising the topic as well as those participating in the debate would have been extremely beneficial.
It’s so frustrating that myself, my fellow NPHTA board members and other knowledgeable stakeholders, who are all easily contactable via social media platforms, would have gladly made ourselves available to partake in a detailed and factually correct discussion on this matter.
Unfortunately there are too many other ill-informed people in our trade, many of whom are actively abusing this practice, and so are more than happy to convince both their MPs and local and national media that this issue is simply a consequence of the Deregulation Act and that lower safety standards and checks in other towns and cities is the problem.
THE DEBATE
I’ve highlighted below the main points raised by various MPs during the debate and share my opinion on why many of their statements are misleading and incorrect.
Shaun Davies – Labour MP for Telford He stated that national policy and best practice are being undermined and that child sexual exploitation should be addressed by the minister.
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Chris Vince - Labour MP for Harlow Continued suggesting that that the Deregulation Act 2015 had created a loophole but then bizarrely described practices that had been taking place since before 2008, which became known as the Stockton Syndrome.
Amanda Hack - Labour MP for NW Leicestershire Pointed out that enforcement is funded by licensing income but that local authorities are unable to enforce
remotely licensed vehicles and that
expanding enforcement abilities would be unachievable. She concluded that drivers should only operate in areas in which they are licensed.
NPHTA COMMENT I do not agree that licensing standards have been reduced. Both the DBS update service and overseas checks
are now mandated by all councils and
safeguarding and other training courses are the same in many regions. Together with the new Statutory Standards and new DfT Best Practice Guidance, I would suggest that standards have in fact tightened.
Whilst it is true that taxi licensing fees fund enforcement, they cannot be allocated to other council departments or used for enforcing rules of other councils. However, this constraint does not mean that enforcement officers should not act against criminal offences committed by drivers licensed elsewhere, their limitation lies in enforcing local conditions not set by their own authority
The terminology used in MP Hack’s final point is wrong since a private hire driver may not “operate” at all (that is the role of a private hire operator). We suspect she is suggesting expanding intended use policies to apply to private hire where currently they can only be applied to hackney
‘predominantly’ which means mostly, it is not measured by days, hours or weeks, it is a generic term that cannot be deemed to mean solely or wholly or entirely.
Chris Vince reply: Cross-border hiring undermines high standards. A driver who loses their licence in one district can simply apply for a licence elsewhere and continue operating with little or no scrutiny. Local authorities lack the enforcement powers to enforce out-of-town drivers which leaves a gaping hole in our public safety framework. How can we claim to protect our constituents, when such fundamental weaknesses exist in our system?
NOVEMBER 2024 PHTM
carriage drivers; the term used is
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