That has been held by the Courts to be correct, and there is a House
of Lords case which says “The rule was that a charge could not be made unless the power to charge was given by express words or necessary implication. Those last words imposed a rigorous test going far beyond the proposition that it would be reasonable or even conducive or incidental to charge for the provision of a service.”
So we can charge for the function of actually issuing the licence, checking the paperwork, typing in the details on the computer, printing off the licence and issuing the badge. I don’t know how long that takes in your council, but it should be able to be calculated by that council. And if it takes 15 minutes, and you have worked out how much an hour it costs in the council office, well that’s easy, isn’t it? But then we have to add on the administration. Does that mean the provision of the computer, the desk, the chair, the office, the lighting, the building?
As difficult as that might be to quantify, councils have been doing this for a lot more years than our trade actually has existed. So they must have some idea.
So I calculate that perhaps an awful lot of councils charge less £100 for a yearly licence. There are a few that charge under £50. So how would they calculate a three-year licence? Well, the initial time isn’t going to change; that 15 minutes is still going to last for three years, and it doesn’t cost any more to type “three” in than it does “one”. But what about administrative charges? Do they go on for three years? So if your badge is, for argument’s sake, £75 and your 15 minutes costs you £25, and your administration costs £50, then should the council multiply the three-year licence as one times £25, and then three times £50 to cover all the three years – giving a badge costing £175.
This is one question for which there are so many different ways coun- cils do this, which makes it very difficult. I have got three-year licences ranging from £70 to £305. However much the licence costs, for most councils it doesn’t make any difference whether you are applying for a hackney carriage or a private hire licence.
But some councils choose to issue different prices for hackney car- riage and private hire badges, and some councils charge an enormous amount for a dual badge. One council replied that a three-year dual licence is going to cost £459.19.
When we get to the five-year operator licence fee, I just don’t know where to start. I have got one-year licences for £60 or £70; three-year licences at under £150; five-year licences under £150. But what about those councils charging per number of vehicles on the fleet? In other words, one-two, three-20 etc. There are councils that are already charging £2,000, £3,000, £4,000 per year for the larger fleet operators; and there are councils that not only charge a large fee, but they charge a fee for each vehicle on the fleet. As one example, there is a council that charges £623 for the five-year licence, plus £27 per vehicle each and every year of the five years. So if you have ten cars, that’s an extra £270 times five, or £1,973 in total – for a ten-car fleet. I will not imagine having to pay if you were in that district and had a hundred cars.
Now all I can say is this: I’m prepared to bet that in the ensuing months, there might be numerous court cases, Ombudsman cases, and general ructions. I’ll put a thought in your head: When the Law Commission was doing its costs calculations, they asked us for a copy of our surveys of council licensing fees. On the back of that, they clearly recommended in their draft legislation that there should be national fees, right across the board.
Once again, we wait for the Government to take action. I wonder how many drivers and operators will have to leave the trade because of the problems surrounding Wyn Monath.
But remember this: If you can’t afford, the council can remit the fees; the council could say, “Pay us in instalments.” They cannot take your licence away on financial grounds; human rights apply here.
So until next time, sayonara.
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