COUNCIL COMMANDMENTS CABBIE LEFT £800 OUT OF POCKET FOR


CHALLENGING PLYMOUTH COUNCIL’S JEANS BAN


A taxi driver who challenged Plymouth City Council’s strict rules on approved clothing was left £800 out of pocket as magistrates warned he should have asked for a Judicial Review in the High Court. The Plymouth driver, whom PlymouthLive is not naming, had appealed against the council’s decision in December 2021 to suspend his hackney


carriage


driver’s licence. The hearing, which took place at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court in September 2022, is understood to have centred around the council’s insistence that drivers abide by its dress code policy - which bans jeans, open sandals and T-shirts. The dress code originally ordered drivers to wear collared shirts or blouse and banned football tops, hoodies or trainers. Following an outcry from drivers, a more ‘relaxed’ set of rules was agreed - but the jeans remained banned. The driver who appeared at court is understood to have argued that the council did not follow the correct procedure and thus its decision to suspend his taxi licence for five days was incorrect. However,


according to court


documents, magistrates said they considered the council was “within its powers and authority to make said decision in accordance with policy, code of conduct, byelaws and statute”.


The document also noted that the driver admitted he was aware and understood the policy and “set out to breach it to have [his] day in court.” However, the magistrates argued that the “correct


venue to PHTM OCTOBER 2022


challenge the legality of council policy and law is Judicial Review in the High Court”. They stated: “We have the power to consider the council decisions and whether the correct decision was reached. We can accept the application and dismiss the suspension or we can accept the decision and either keep suspension or vary it. “We dismiss the appeal as we found the right decision was made, and it was both reasonable and proportionate and within the councils power to do so.” Magistrates dismissed the driver’s appeal and ordered him to pay the council’s £800 legal costs. A member of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association said they were aware of the case and felt the council was still being ‘un- reasonable’. They said: “Yes, clothing shouldn’t be tattered,dirty or scrappy, we agree with that. But it’s un- reasonable to object to drivers’ wearing jeans. Jeans appear to be entirely appropriate for councillors to wear during council work. “When you go out in a taxi, you may end up having a puncture or you have to lift items into the vehicle for a passenger, or you have to clear seats if they’ve been left a mess. You don’t want to be wearing an expensive pair of smart suit trousers - you want something


hard-wearing and practical. It’s about what is considered a reasonable standard of dress. “What’s unfair about this is the council has written it’s policy and we can’t argue it unless someone takes it all the way to the High Court and there can’t be that many taxi drivers who have the time and money to do that. “We still think it’s unfair and in this instance one driver who tried to challenge it is now hundreds of pounds out of pocket.” A Plymouth City Council spokesperson said they could not comment about individual cases and stated that the council did not take licenced taxi drivers to court - the taxi driver could themselves appeal to the court against the taxi licensing committee’s decision. They said: “We use a penalty point scheme for dealing with minor offences committed by


licence


holders. Points are issued via a written notice to licence holders who are found to be in breach of legislation, byelaws, our licensing policy or conditions of licence. “If a licence holder accumulates 12 points or more within a rolling period of 36 months then their licence will be subject to a review by our Taxi Licensing Committee. If a licence holder is unhappy about that decision they may go to court to appeal that decision. “Since 2018, 79 penalty point notices have been issued for breaches of the dress code standards. Of the 68 drivers to receive notices, one has accumulated 12 penalty points or more for failure to adhere to the dress code standards.


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