MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
DITCH ‘ARCHAIC’ LAW SAY TENDRING CABBIES
Cabbies are hoping to persuade politicians to scrap a law which allows drivers to be suspended from work- ing if they are caught repeatedly breaking regulations. Tendring District Taxi Association chairman Colin Bennett has kicked off the cam- paign on the Your Freedom website, set up by the Government to ask which laws peo- ple would like to see scrapped.
Mr Bennett has sug- gested the “rather archaic” 1847 Town Police Clauses Act should be done away with.
It allows local authori- ties to force com- mercial drivers to sur- render their hackney carriage licence if they are caught repeatedly breaking its terms, which include picking up trade only from licensed taxi ranks and moving on to another official rank if one is full.
Mr Bennett said: “It is incredible that in our modern progressive society, we still have to rely on a 153-year-old by-law.”
He suggested a £100 to £150 fine would be more appropriate. Mmm… now where have we heard that
before? The NPHA has lobbied for changing our archaic legislation for years; how else can you con- vince Government that the same piece of legislation that has governed our entire hackney trade since 1847 is somewhat out of date?? Let’s see if the ‘Your Freedom’ website has any bet- ter success rate… if the Prime Minister’s website can accept petitions, perhaps the best route is to set up a gigantic petition for changing our legisla- tion. How many signatures could you add to it? – Ed.
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Any form of sexual con- tact, which could include anything from flirting to consensual activity in the back seat, could cost them their licence under a new condition imposed on private hire drivers. The move, suggested by Thames Valley Police to stop rogue drivers using the con- sent defence in sex attack cases, was approved by the coun- cil’s licensing panel last month.
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PAGE 60
The condition states that drivers may not ‘initiate any dialogue of a sexual nature’ or become ‘involved sex- ually’ or ‘have sexual contact’ with any cus- tomers in a licensed vehicle - even if they consented.
It will not apply to hackney carriage driv- ers who are regulated by byelaws set by the Secretary of State and can be prosecuted if they fail to act in ‘a civil and orderly manner’. Cllr Sayonara Luxton, licensing panel chair- man, said the new condition will protect both passengers, who are often drunk and vulnerable when going home at night, and drivers, who have faced sex accusations from customers who have no money. “The police have asked us and other councils to do it because they have had cases where women have been in these situations,” she told the Maidenhead Advertiser.
Rizwan Raza, of Five Star Cars, told the council: “Drivers feel that they would become more vulnera- ble by having this
condition imposed on them as they could be accused of these acts by anyone,” he said. Calls are still being made to fix CCTV cam- eras in taxis and PHVs to protect both drivers, who have been the victims of physical assaults, as well as passengers.
Mmm... Where do we start? Passengers can now accuse PHV driv- ers of allsorts, and it’s their word against his/hers. I wonder if the condition specifies exactly what consti- tutes a “flirt”. Then there’s the issue of: why only private hire drivers? Simple - because the council cannot attach condi- tions to a hackney carriage driver’s licence. So that must mean that hackney drivers don’t do those nasty deeds then... This’ll need sorting big time! - Ed
PHTM SEPTEMBER 2010
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