Issues relating to the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles

Unite (TPH 41)

1. Introduction

1.1 This submission is by Unite the Union. Unite is the UK’s largest trade union with over 1.5 million members across the private and public sectors.

1.2 Unite the U nion ’s current membership in t ransport , together with our membership in other trade groups, such as supervisory and administrative grades, and some mainte nance engineering members, exceeds 250,000 . Unite represents workers in all areas of transport including bus, coach , tram , rail , road haulage, l ogistics , civil aviation, docks , ferries, waterways and , of particular relevance to this inquiry, taxis.

1.3 Unite has thousands of taxi driver members and has obtained their views through our lay member committees at national and regional level. Therefore Unite is in a unique position to submit a response to the Transport Committee Inquiry into Issues Relating to the Licensing of Taxis & Private Hire Vehicles.

2. Executive Summary

2.1 Unite the Union has come across hundreds of examples of Cross Border Hiring of Private Hire Vehicles all over England and Wales, which has led to many thousands of signatures and a petition from members of the public from over 330 MP’s constituencies calling for a change in the law.

2.2 Currently private hire vehicles undertaking a fare to another borough are not required by law to return to their borough of license before taking another fare in another borough.

2.3 In some cases Private Hire Vehicles are deliberately staying in their neighbouring boroughs waiting for hire. In fact some Private Hire Vehicles never actually enter their licensed borough and permanently place themselves in neighbouring boroughs.

2.4 Unite is not trying to stop Private Hire Vehicles from being able to take a fare outside their licensed borough. All Unite is seeking is that once a Private Hire Vehicle has taken a fare outside their licensed borough they then must return to their licensed area like the rest of the taxi trade has to.

2.5 Private Hire Vehicles have an unfair advantage over the livelihoods of the hackney carriages taxis that are essentially required to return to their ‘controlled area’ and the private hire trade in a particular borough.

2.6 So clearly a fair playing field needs to be established because the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 never envisaged the above situation, and an amendment is long overdue.

2.7 In Scottish legislation section 21 (b) Civic Government Act (1982) it requires taxi and private hire vehicles to return to the licensing area when they have completed a hiring that terminates outside of the controlled area.

2.8 Unite’s legal opinion has indicated that it would be possible to incorporate the aforementioned section of the Scottish legislation without having to undergo wholesale changes to the 1976 Act which covers England and Wales.

2.9 Alternatively, Unite are told there is every prospect that the level playing field, which protects passengers could be achieved by simple secondary legislation.  Unite would be happy to explore this further with the department.

2.10 In terms of enforcement, in order not to burden the courts (which can prove an expensive use of tax payer’s money) with the proposed new amendment to the legislation Unite believes that a spot fine in the region of £200 and 3 points on a driver’s license would be an appropriate punishment.

2.11 There are numerous reasons why Unite believes market forces can damage the taxi trade and discredit the licensing authority.  These are never simple and can vary from one area to another.  Nevertheless, the fact that a number of licensing authorities having chosen to de-restrict and have subsequently re-restricted, supports the view that far from being the panacea for local supply difficulties, market forces often create different and far more damaging problems. 

2.12 Unite believes Local Taxi Boards made up of the licensing authority, trade unions, the police and passenger representatives (including disability groups) should be responsible for the monitoring of supply and demand with the remit of developing the trade in a progressive and managed way.

2.13 Unite propose s that Private Hire Vehicles should have signage on their two front doors (driver and passenger side) in orde r to pre-warn the public that if they risk using a Private Hire Vehicle that has no t be en pre-booked then that journey will not be insured.

2.14 Private Hire Vehicles should not be able to have tinted windows in the same way as taxis are not allowed. This is clearly doub le standards and there are possible health and safety implications with allowing this.

3. Cross Border Hiring of Private Hire Vehicles (PHV)

3.1 Unite the Union has come across hundreds of examples of Cross Border Hiring of Private Hire Vehicles all over England and Wales, which has led to many thousands of signatures and a petition from members of the public from over 330 MP’s constituencies calling for a change in the law. The petition was handed in to the Chair of the Transport Select Committee Louise Ellman on 10th November 2010 and no doubt has had a significant bearing on the Transport Committee calling for this inquiry.

3.2 Currently Private Hire Vehicles undertaking a fare to another borough are not required by law to return to their borough of license before taking another fare in another borough.

3.3 In some cases Private Hire Vehicles are deliberately staying in their neighbouring boroughs waiting for hire. In fact some Private Hire Vehicles never actually enter their licensed borough and permanently place themselves in neighbouring boroughs.

3.4 As long as a fare has been pre-booked and the Private Hire Vehicle operator, driver and vehicle are all licensed in the same borough they do not need to be licensed in the borough they are going to pick up the fare from. They are free to drive as far as they like, 40-50 miles in some cases, although obviously could be further and across as many boroughs as they need to, across 6 boroughs in some cases but again obviously could be more.

3.5 However, Unite is not trying to stop Private Hire Vehicles from being able to take a fare outside their licensed borough. All Unite is seeking is that once a Private Hire Vehicle has taken a fare outside their licensed borough then they must return to their licensed area like the rest of the taxi trade has to.

3.6 Currently Private Hire Vehicles have an unfair advantage over the livelihoods of the hackney carriages taxis that are essentially required to return to their ‘controlled area’ and the private hire trade in a particular borough.

3.7 So clearly a fair playing field needs to be established because the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 never envisaged the above situation, and an amendment is long overdue.

3.8 In Scottish legislation section 21 (b) Civic Government Act (1982) it requires taxi and private hire vehicles to return to the licensing area when they have completed a hiring that terminates outside of the controlled area.

3.9 Unite’s legal opinion has indicated that it would be possible to incorporate the aforementioned section of the Scottish legislation without having to undergo wholesale changes to the 1976 Act which covers England and Wales.

3.10 Alternatively, Unite are told there is every prospect that the level playing field, which protects passengers could be achieved by simple secondary legislation.  Unite would be happy to explore this further with the department.

4. Proposed Amendment to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (c.57)

4.1 Insert the following new Clause:

"69A operation of hackney carriages and picking up passengers in private hire vehicles outside the licensed area

(1) If any person -

(a) operates, or permits the operation of, a hackney carriage within an area in respect of which its operation requires to be but is not licensed or the driver requires to be but is not licensed, or

(b) picks up passengers in, or permits passengers to be picked up by, a private hire vehicle within an area in respect of which its operation requires to be but is not licensed or the driver requires to be but is not licensed, that person shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Subsection (1) above does not apply to the operation of a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle within an area in respect of which its operation or its driver is not licensed if the request for its hiring was received by its driver   (otherwise than in a public place from the person to be conveyed in it, or a person acting on his behalf, for a journey beginning there and then) whilst -

(a) in the area or in that part thereof in respect of which its operation and its driver are licensed;

(b) engaged on hire on a journey which began in that area or part or will end there; or

(c) returning to that area or part immediately following completion of a journey on hire.

(3) If any person, being the holder of a hackney carriage licence or private hire vehicle licence in respect of a vehicle, permits another person who does not have a current hackney carriage driver ’ s licence or private hire vehicle driver ’ s licence, as the case may be, to operate the vehicle as a taxi or, as the case may be, a private hire vehicle he shall be guilty of an offence."

5. Enforcement of Cross Border Hiring of Private Hire Vehicles

5.1 In terms of enforcement, in order not to burden the courts (which can prove an expensive use of tax payers money) with the proposed new amendment to the legislation Unite believes that a spot fine in the region of £200 and 3 points on a driver’s license would be an appropriate punishment.

5.2 Unite believes that by using on the spot fines local licensing authorities will be able to generate their own revenue to pay for enforcement in their area.

6 . Quantity Restrictions

6.1 Section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act allows the Council to restrict the number of taxis, but only if it is satisfied that there is no "significant unmet demand".  Case law directs that the measuring of supply and demand is by way of an independent survey.  The currency and therefore the validity of any such survey has commonly been viewed as lasting between three and five years.

6.2 Unite is as opposed to the notion that the status quo should be preserved indefinitely and at all costs, as we are to the view that this vital part of the integrated transport system should be left to the whims of "market forces".

6.3 There are numerous reasons why Unite believe market forces can damage the taxi trade and discredit the licensing authority.  These are never simple and, can vary from one area to another.  Nevertheless, the fact that a number of licensing authorities having chosen to de-restrict and have subsequently re-restricted, supports the view that far from being the panacea for local supply difficulties, market forces often create different and far more damaging problems.  It is difficult to obtain a comprehensive and up to date picture of such areas, but the following are examples of where de-restriction has not proved to be the answer:-

· Harlow – Before OFT report in November 2003 were restricted then de-restricted and have now re-restricted.

· Sheffield - Before OFT report in November 2003 were de-restricted and have now restricted.

· Birmingham – No plates for a year.

· Wirral – Gone from 80 to 350 cabs, which has caused a shortage of taxis on days. The competition to earn a living is so vast taxi drivers are working nights to make their money and therefore are not available during the day. Liverpool sees about 1,400 cabs and double the amount of drivers and through sharing provides a better day and night cover then just issuing more licenses.

· Salford – Unite’s membership have experienced problems with the council’s plans to increase the number of taxis without an independent survey to be carried out to enable us to judge the level of demand in the way that case law directs.

6.4 Unite would like to know - What councils de-restricted taxi numbers following the announcement of a Government Action Plan in June 2004 encouraging them to do so and which have now chosen to re-restrict taxi numbers since then? And why?

6.5 In effect, Unite would like to see a detailed breakdown of all the councils/local authorities that were used to make Chart A5.6: Quantity restriction in England and Wales on page 79 of the OFT Taxi Market Study - Oct 07

6.6 In summary, Unite believes Local Taxi Boards made up of the licensing authority, trade unions, the police and passenger representatives (including disability groups) should be responsible for the monitoring of supply and demand with the remit of developing the trade in a progressive and managed way.

7 . Private Hire Vehicle Front Door s Signage (driver and passenger side)

7.1 Unite propose s that P rivate Hire Vehicles should have signage on their two front doors (driver and passenger side) in order to pre - warn the public that if they risk using a Private Hire Vehicle that has no t be en pre-booked then that journey will not be insured.

7.2 The signs should be placed on both front doors (driver and passenger side) and should contain the license plate number and operator ’ s name and should contain the following wording:

License P l a te Number: XXXXXXXX

Operator Name: XXXXXXXX

" WARNING: T his vehicle m ust be pre-booked for your journey to be insured because in the e vent of an accident you will not be covered."

8 . Private Hire Vehicle Tinted Windows

8.1 Private Hire Vehicles should not be able to have tinted windows in the same way as taxis are not allowed. This is clearly doub le standards and there are possible health and safety implications with allowing this.

8.2 Unite opposes the Public Carriage Office's policy of passing PHV's with tinted windows, some completely blacked out, with obvious consequences for the vulnerable, particularly women not knowing who may be in the vehicle when they enter, let alone what may happen on route with any possible attack being out of sight.

December 2010