More on those National Standards;
Quote:
7.18 If quality regulation is not justified in respect of private hire vehicles, there would seem to be two consequences. First, customers are potentially being prevented from choosing to pay a discounted price for a scruffy but safe private hire vehicle. In a competitive market, there seems no reason to prevent consumers making that choice. Many markets for personal services have a discounted bottom-end, which generally serves a purpose. Whether there would in fact be effective demand for such services we do not know, but there does not seem to be any reason why the state should exclude the possibility, provided that customers who want higher quality standards can effectively procure them. Our working hypothesis is that the pre-booked market is sufficiently competitive to allow for that.
7.19 The second point is that it may well be that the market would, generally, set a higher standard of quality than that required by the existing quality conditions. We are not aware of any empirical evidence one way or the other, and would be grateful if we could be provided with any. But if that were the case, then the whole process of setting conditions (and “enforcing” them) is misplaced and wasteful, and could sensibly be dispensed with.
In order for the free market to work correctly; the national standard will be scruffy but safe.
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