Taxi Driver Online

A mate of mine has just asked me a couple of questions that I think I know the answer to but I would just like to check here before giving him the answer.
He has been doing some chauffeur hire work for a booking company. Every one used to work on the contract exemption until January. Since then the company that gets the work has got an operators license and all the drivers have badged their cars and got drivers badges. Now the booking agent does not own any cars, the drivers own them themselves. The drivers have all been badged by their own LA's and all now have operators licenses as well. The question is, Can these drivers legally except work from the agent if they are licensed by a different authority?

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Grandad,

No.

Nothing really to do with the drivers or vehicles, it's everything to do with how he procures work.

If he advertises for work, and passes that work to a PH, then he needs a PH operator's license.

1976 Miss Act

"operate" means in the course of business to make provision for the invitation or acceptance of bookings for a private hire vehicle;

And the only thing that can pass work onto a licensed PH vehicle/driver is a licensed PH operator.

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IDFIMH

Would you also be falling foul of cross border trading prohibitions?

I believe the Beverley case may have been the one that was the leading case on the issue.

Indeed he would, which is why he isn't licensed.

Some of these call centers deal with licensed PH from all over the country. Clearly they can't have multiply offices or operator licenses from areas they are not based.

I suspect Mr Grandad's contact is from the Limo business, but, for once, the Limo business is not alone in being the bad guy on this issue.

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IDFIMH

It is an executive chauffeuring business, nothing to do with stretched limos. Everyone is licensed including the booking office. It is the cross border hireing that is the issue. The booking office is licensed by one council but some of the drivers are now licensed by different councils.

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Grandad,

Then he is acting outside of the law.

Even Mrs Blair couldn't convince the courts otherwise.

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IDFIMH

so if the drivers and the operator were all licensed by one authority they could take jobs from anywhere, next borough or county?...

Yes I believe that would be ok.

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Grandad,

Sussex.

I am not clear on this. What Grandad seems to be saying is this....

We have a central booking office, which has an operators licence where it is based, so it will probably have cars operating and licenced in that district.

This booking office is then passing work to another licenced operator from a different district, who is sending licensed cars/drivers (possibly himself) to undertake work.

Surely the law would regard the point as where a booking is passed from operator to vehicle as the point where it 'matters'. The initial booking office is purely an agent, not making a direct arrangement with a driver to undertake the work.

If these drivers didn't have their own operators licence then it would be different.

Go on, shoot me down in flames.

For example, we had a phone call from a company in the Birmingham area last week (I have met the owner at various trade events). They had a client who was in our area on business and needed a local journey undertaken in a neighbouring district to him.

We took the booking from this other company and despatched a PH licensed by us in our district to do it.

I will be billing the taxi company in Birmingham and he will be billing his client (with a fee added on for his trouble I guess).

It isn't an unusual occurence is it Sussex

So is it illegal?

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I think ill go back to haulage, i may have had to wait 60 days for payment but at least i could take any load from-to anywhere and find a backload without it being a crime............

That was what the Mrs Blair court case was all about.

Basically a customer can ring who they like where they like, but operators cannot pass on work themselves to another operator licensed elsewhere.

I expect this happens 1000s of times a day, but the law doesn't allow it.

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IDFIMH

If the customer had booked it direct, then it would clearly be ok.

But the way the law sees it is that that customer booked a vehicle through a licensed Birmingham PH operator, and as they can only supply Birmingham licensed vehicles, the customer isn't getting what they asked for if they are supplied by a licensed Tom Thumb PH.

Wouldn't apply for taxis though.

Was very grey before the Tyneside/Blair court case, but to be it's crystal clear now.

In the MoM get togethers the NPHA bought in a late proposal to allow that, but I don't like the idea of multi-national companies taking over.

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IDFIMH

The question that arises is who makes provision for the acceptance of the booking? I don't know if LA's stick to the strict letter of the law when it comes to limo licenses but under normal private hire legislation all three licenses have to be issued from the same authority.

What you have here is a type of sub contract arrangement where the booking is accepted in one area and subcontracted to an operator come driver in another area. Two points are raised, first, does the law allow for an agency who has an operators license in one area to take bookings on behalf of passengers for the hire of a vehicle licensed in another area? If you exclude the operators license does the law allow for an agency or individual to take bookings for the hire of a private hire vehicle in any area within the country?

Second, is the booking agent actually making provision for the hiring of a private hire vehicle or merely acting as a go between for the person wishing to obtain the hire? Is the agent akin to the hotel receptionist where a resident asks the receptionist to order them a cab for a certain time of day?

In short there is no case law on booking agents that immediately springs to mind. However anyone who sets themselves up as such a business model could indeed fall foul of hire or reward legislation under the 1976 act if they don't have a private hire operators license and also if they use vehicles and drivers not licensed in the same district.

There is ample case law on private hire cross border hiring which suggests provision is made at the first port of call but in the case of a booking agency the courts would have to determine if they were the first port of call or the operator where the booking is placed?

I suspect sooner or later a court case will be joined where this scenario is played out but one never knows.

Regards

JD

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If we go back to the MoM proposals, and in particular proposal number 11.

Sub-contracting bookings by operators.

This proposal is designed to bring the 1976 act in line with the current situation under the Private hire vehicles London act 1998 (section 5) whereby a London based operator can subcontract work to a provincial operator licensed under the act of 1976. The reverse is not currently the case if this proposal is adopted then operators can build upon networks of contacts so that if a car breaks down out of its own district then an operator based in another area can be asked to complete the journey and the original operator will still be liable for the completion of the contract.

It would appear that those folks preparing/presenting the proposals are of an opinion that it ain't within the law.

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IDFIMH

Surely if the vehicle breaks down, and isnt covered by a "we will get you there" breakdown option, the passengers cant be stopped ringing a local taxi/PH firm to collect them?....


darent even raise the subject of an online booking service (say......easytaxi.com) who wont be a tax/PH firm, and could be hosted in greece, passing jobs to me in one LA to collect in another..)