Taxi Drivers: We'll Take Council to High Court
30th August 2008
Taxi drivers are preparing for a High Court showdown with Plymouth City Council after it ordered a huge hike in licence fees.
Black cab and private hire drivers have united in protest after the council's licensing committee this week agreed the increases for vehicle licences.
A black cab licence will shoot up from £80 to £415 and the private hire version from £35 to £129.50. The majority of the 30 other administration fees will also rise.
Furious cabbies have taken legal advice and are preparing for a judicial review.
It would mean another expensive day in court for the council – already reeling from several high-profile legal battles with the taxi trade during the past four years.
The council is actually blaming the costly court appearances for having to inflate the licence fees.
The authority's taxi reserve account, which pays for administering the trade, has run dry, all due to the costs incurred in legal cases.
In 2005, The Herald revealed how the council had made a secret £120,000 payment to private hire firm Silverline following a failed legal bid to shut it down.
The authority was also ordered to cough up hefty legal costs after Taxifast challenged the city's limit on black cabs in 2006, and won.
Without the fees increase, the council would face an expected deficit of £300,000 by the end of the current financial year.
Roy Hamilton, secretary of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association, said: "We are considering a judicial review.
"We are not happy with the way the taxi trade has been administered in Plymouth."
He said it was unfair that the trade now had to "pick up the bill" for the legal cases.
"The whole thing has been a shambles," he said, adding that legal action is already underway, with solicitors' letters going back and forth between his group and the council.
Hackney carriage drivers have chipped in to pay for legal representation, and can be identified by stickers displayed in back windows of cabs.
The judicial review would be brought on grounds the council acted unreasonably or maliciously, he said.
Such a judicial review would have "implications for the whole country".
Taxifast chairman John Preece said: "Should they push ahead and not pay heed to the real issues here, we and the rest of the trade will go to a judicial review.
"I see a massive court case looming again."
He stressed he was not blaming councillors for the situation, but the authority itself.
Mr Preece, who has also taken advice from the National Private Hire Association, said the council had not engaged in talks with the trade. But he said negotiations could bring a settlement.
"If they turn around and say they got it wrong and can we go forward and agree a budget, we will say 'yes'," he said.
Mr Hamilton added: "If the council could see sense we would go away, but how likely is that to happen?"
The council stressed that licence fees had been frozen in recent years because increased costs were covered by the taxi reserve accounts. Fees were lower than in other local authority areas.
A spokeswoman said: "The taxi trade has been advised for many years that fees would need to be increased when the reserves ran out."
The fees cover admin costs, including CRB checks, driving tests, investigating complaints and enforcement.
"The council is satisfied that recouping its legal fees from the taxi trade is both legitimate and appropriate, as these fees relate to the overall regulation and enforcement of that trade," the spokeswoman said.
Licensing Committee (Hackney Carriage) chairman Cllr Jill Dolan added: "We have to recoup those costs, either from the taxi trade or from local taxpayers.
"We think it's only fair commercial operators foot the bill."
Source; thisisplymouth.co.uk; The Herald, The Voice of Plymouth
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might this be some sort of contempt of court?