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| Prohibition of certain advertisements. |
31. - (1) This section applies to any advertisement-
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(a) indicating that vehicles can be hired on application to a specified address in London; |
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(b) indicating that vehicles can be hired by telephone on a telephone number being the number of premises in London; or |
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(c) on or near any premises in London, indicating that vehicles can be hired at those premises. |
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(2) No such advertisement shall include-
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(a) any of the following words, namely "taxi", "taxis", "cab" or "cabs", or |
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(b) any word so closely resembling any of those words as to be likely to be mistaken for it, |
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(whether alone or as part of another word), unless the vehicles offered for hire are London cabs.
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(3) An advertisement which includes the word "minicab", "mini-cab" or "mini cab" (whether in the singular or plural) does not by reason only of that fact contravene this section.
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(4) Any person who issues, or causes to be issued, an advertisement which contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
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(5) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that-
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(a) he is a person whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of advertisements; |
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(b) he received the advertisement in question for publication in the ordinary course of business; and |
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(c) he did not know and had no reason to suspect that its publication would amount to an offence under this section. |
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(6) In this section-
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"advertisement" includes every form of advertising (whatever the medium) and references to the issue of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly; |
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"telephone number" includes any number used for the purposes of communicating with another by electronic means; and "telephone" shall be construed accordingly. |
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Miscellaneous and supplementary |
| Regulations. |
32. - (1) The Secretary of State may make regulations for any purpose for which regulations may be made under this Act or for prescribing anything which falls to be prescribed under any provision of this Act.
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(2) Regulations under this Act may-
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(a) make different provision for different cases; |
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(b) provide for exemptions from any provision of the regulations; and |
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(c) contain incidental, consequential, transitional and supplemental provision. |
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(3) Any power to make regulations conferred by this Act is exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
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| Offences due to fault of other person. |
33. - (1) Where an offence by any person under this Act is due to the act or default of another person, then (whether proceedings are taken against the first mentioned person or not) that other person is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
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(2) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate (or any person purporting to act in that capacity), he as well as the body corporate is guilty of the offence is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
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| Service of notices. |
34. - (1) Any notice authorised or required under this Act to be given to any person may be served by post.
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(2) For the purposes of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 any such notice is properly addressed to a London PHV operator if it is addressed to him at any operating centre of his in London.
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(3) Any notice authorised or required under this Act to be given to the owner of a vehicle shall be deemed to have been effectively given if it is given to the person who is for the time being notified to the Secretary of State for the purposes of this Act as the owner of the vehicle (or, if more than one person is currently notified as the owner, if it is given to any of them).
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| References to the owner of a vehicle. |
35. - (1) For the purposes of this Act the owner of a vehicle shall be taken to be the person by whom it is kept.
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(2) In determining, in the course of any proceedings for an offence under this Act, who was the owner of a vehicle at any time it shall be presumed that the owner was the person who was the registered keeper of the vehicle at that time.
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(3) Notwithstanding that presumption-
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(a) it is open to the defence to show that the person who was the registered keeper of a vehicle at any particular time was not the person by whom the vehicle was kept at that time; and |
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(b) it is open to the prosecution to prove that the vehicle was kept at that time by some person other than the registered keeper. |
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(4) In this section "registered keeper", in relation to a vehicle, means the person in whose name the vehicle was registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994.
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