Issues relating to the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles

Written evidence from Middlesbrough Council (TPH 24)

Middlesbrough Council’s Licensing Section wish to bring a number of concerns to the attention of the Commons Transport Committee in respect of "cross border hirings". However, the issues in relation to ‘’cross border hiring’’ are not limited soley to private hire vehicles as there is a significant problem with licensed hackney carriages from one district being used for private hire bookings predominantly or solely in a completely different district.

This causes grave concerns for the Council and raises issues of unfair competition for the licensed taxi trade in Middlesbrough:-

· There has been an instance where a private hire driver in Middlesbrough has been deemed not to be ‘fit and proper’ to drive a private hire vehicle by our Licensing following a number of complaints from female passengers in relation to inappropriate touching/comments to passengers during taxi journeys Committee (a decision which was subsequently been upheld by both the Magistrates Court and Crown Court). The driver has then made application to a neighbouring local authority with the intention of obtaining a hackney carriage vehicle and driver licence with that authority and then using that vehicle exclusively to fufill private hire bookings in the Middlesbrough area. The current legislation/case law allows this to happen and takes away the ability of this Council to set standards for drivers carrying out private vehicle bookings in the Middlesbrough area.

· The whole idea of the current legislation is that each local authority can set standards via local conditions and policies for vehicles and drivers licensed in their area. The effect of vehicles being used outside of their own districts in such a way undermines the entire concept of local policies and conditions to suit local needs.

· In relation to the unfair competition element for the Middlesbrough taxi trade, vehicles and drivers licensed in other areas may not be subject to the same rigorous standards, both in terms of vehicle and driver conditions and policies, as those licensed in Middlesbrough. For example Middlesbrough have a number of policies in relation to driving standards such a DSA taxi driver assessments and driver training, which may not be followed by other local authorities and this gives an unfair advantage to drivers licensed elsewhere but who are working in Middlesbrough. There are other examples in relation to vehicle conditions where perhaps Middlesbrough would set a higher standard/quality of vehicle via age policies etc.

· In addition, other Authorities may have lower fees as they do not carry out the same level of enforcement (or no enforcement at all) as Middlesbrough and again this is an unfair advantage to those who seek to obtain licences elsewhere.

· The problem in relation to the use of Hackney Carriages licensed in one area being used for private hire use exclusively in another area arose as a result of the actions of one local authority, Berwick, issuing licences to any applicant irrespective of whether they intended to operate in their area. This resulted in a huge increase in the numbers of hackney carriages licenced in Berwick (and licence fee income) whilst other local authorities were left to cover the cost of the additional enforcement required to regulate the activities of Berwick drivers and vehicles working in their area. This surely cannot be right.

· In relation to Private Hire ‘’cross border issues’’ again the legislation is unclear and has resulted in a number of other local authorities issuing Private Hire Operator licences to companies operating within the Middlesbrough District boundary. Again the same comment as made above in relation to local control and conditions and policies apply and we have had a situation where this authority did not consider an operator to be fit to hold a licence to operate private hire vehicles in this area who was allowed to continue to operate by virtue of the fact that they held a licence to operate with the neighboring authority (for the same operating centre).

· We have had numerous incidents where members of the public from Middlesbrough have contacted the Council to complain about the standard of driving/conduct of a taxi driver who carried out a journey exclusively within the Middlesbrough boundary. Investigations have revealed that the driver and vehicle used on that journey have not been licensed with the Council and we have been unable to deal with the complaint. The public expect that if they have a complaint about a taxi journey in Middlesbrough, that Middlesbrough Council deal with the situation. They do not expect to be referred to another local authority who in some instances (Berwick) are 100 miles away.

December 2010