IN THE NEWS
NEWWARNING SIGNS ON LIVERPOOL PHVS TO PROTECT PASSENGERS
New warning signs are going to be placed on private hire vehicles in Liv- erpool to let pas- sengers know about the dangers of cabs that are wrongly plying for hire. In an effort to clamp down on the prac- tice, Liverpool Coun- cil will be providing every PHV with a sign urging people to pre-book their journeys. The signpost will come in the form of a magnetic Liver- pool purple strip which sends the simple message: “No booking, No insurance, No jour- ney.” They
are
currently being sent to every private hire driver in the city and must feature promi- nently on the side of every vehicle. The signpost will also include details of how passengers can contact
the
Licensing Team to register a complaint or make a comment. The move is being backed by many of the city’s private hire operators, in- cluding one of Liverpool’s biggest firms, Alpha. Alpha operations manager
Sweeney told the Liverpool “We’re
Liam Echo:
really pleased to support
these signs will help to spell out to every- one what we can and cannot do.” This
follows an
this council initia- tive. It can some- times be awkward for our drivers if they have to refuse someone
who
approaches them on the street so
ongoing operation from the city coun- cil’s licensing team to ensure that pri- vate hire drivers are not picking up fares on the street. Offi- cers have been out posing as passen- gers to see if drivers will pick them up without an advance booking, taking tough action where there is evi- dence of wrong- doing. In one recent exam- ple from June, a private hire driver from Liverpool was
ordered to pay near- ly £1,000 in fines and was
disqualified
from driving after being caught plying for hire. There have been 27 prosecu- tions for plying for hire in the last 12 months, including a driver from Knows- ley who was ordered to pay £712 and given eight penalty points after being caught in June. Liverpool
City
Council’s Cabinet Member for Trans- port, Cllr James Noakes, said: “When you take a private hire journey that isn’t pre-booked, you are not insured for the journey.
“If there is an acci- dent and you are injured you may not be covered. Also, there will be no for- mal record of the journey, making it difficult
for the
police or the council to trace. “Members of the public who use pri- vate hire vehicles also have a respon- sibility to make sure they have booked the
journey in
advance. “Our new signs get this message across in a simple and effective way. We are grateful that so many of the city’s private hire drivers will be using them.”
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OCTOBER 2018
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