WHAT’S THE POINT...?
This month we address the new craze that seems to be erupt- ing known as “the penalty points scheme” which for some local authorities has already been adopted; for others it is in the pipeline; for others still, it has been to licensing commit- tee, defended, represented by trade bodies and defeated.
Rossendale was one such council, where as the chair of the local association back then, director of the NPHTA David Lawrie challenged the points scheme at licensing committee level, and had the idea scrapped.
How did we challenge this? We broke down the list of alleged offences one by one, highlighted all the silly things that were not actually offences, criticised the ones that were serious offences and therefore should be straight to court or licensing committee, and left such a small list of things that were worthy of being in- cluded, that the whole policy was not worth adopting.
Much to the confusion and disappointment of licensing offi- cers who said: “But it would make it a simple matter of ac- cept a set of points instead of risking losing your licence at committee, so why not just accept it?”, the reply was quite simple:
“Well then you should have discussed it better, liaised better, and made the scheme fit for purpose before trying to simply push it through regardless, then we may have been able to agree the procedures to follow before issuing points, the list of alleged offences, removing the items that were simply a figment of your imagination, made it fair, reasonable, justifi- able, and beneficial to all, not just officers, then and only then we may have been more in favour of the idea.”
Such policies have been rejected in several local authorities with the right representation, so join now.
As your national representative body, the NPHTA is more than capable of doing this for our members.
WHY NOW
It has been brought to our attention that Woking Council is one such council that is considering adopting the scheme, in- troduced as “will not be used for serious offences”. So let’s take a look at their suggested list from the link below:
https://bit.ly/2Gacmon
Driver not currently holding a current or valid DVLA licence - 12 points
Driving, or allowing someone to drive, a licensed vehicle with- out the proprietor’s consent - 9 points
I am quite certain that those are serious offences, but please have a look at the link above, this is just one of many items that do not belong on the list at all. For all licence holders in Woking, you simply must respond to this consultation, you need to stand together, most of all, a unified trade is a powerful voice!
6 NO OFFENCE
Overcharging - including turning the meter off, not using the meter, adding on authorised extras, refusing to refund, attempt- ing to charge more than the fare agreed with the customer by the operator or anything of a similar nature - 9 points
Notice the key words “adding on authorised extras” - How is it an offence or worthy of 9 points if it is “authorised?”
Refusal to drive any person without reasonable cause/ refusal to accept hiring without reasonable cause - 7 points
Any driver has the right to refuse any fare if they have grounds or reasonable cause; this is down to the discretion of the driver. The issue here is that “reasonable cause” can be questioned and quite often the driver feeling at risk or threatened is not consid- ered “reasonable.”
This introduces a risk of misinterpretation, manipulation, and the driver’s discretion being brought into question, not by com- mittee, but by the issuing of points by officers as a matter of routine, which means that the right to refuse is being removed here by the points system, and yet the right to refuse is not ac- tually wrong. In fact it is referred to by the Department for Trans- port as the reason why the wearing of face coverings did not include taxi and private vehicles (until this changed on 23rd September as a result of our campaigns).
Failure to submit a licence renewal application until after the ex- piry date of an existing one, without reasonable cause - 5 points
Why issue points for this? Surely this at worst should be a new application – in which case, all the extras such as a new DBS, medical, courses etc, many of which would still be valid, should be waived since it is just a late renewal under a differ- ent name.
Failing to comply with the requirements of the Highway Code or Traffic Order - i.e. Parking / Stopping / Waiting / Leaving your vehicle unattended on a double yellow area, waiting or stopping on a bus stop, disabled bay, double yellow area, or private land (without the owner’s permission), failure to com- ply with the conditions/use of bus lanes, parking, waiting or stopping in a disabled bay longer than the permitted time, parking, waiting, becoming stationary or stopping your vehicle in a parking bay (without a valid ticket), causing an obstruction to traffic, parking in a dangerous position (i.e. double parked, parked close to a road junction) or on a footway, blocking the driveway or entrance of any residence, business, school or any other public building or space, or contravening any section of the Highway Code, traffic laws, regulations, orders or guidance - 4 points
Stopping or waiting on a double yellow line area whilst picking up or dropping off customers is NOT an offence.
Stopping in a disabled bay whilst picking up a disabled person is NOT an offence.
OCTOBER 2020
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