Taxi Driver Online

Two amendments that should be introduced via the road safety act to make life easier for cab drivers. I suggest someone writes to all the hackney carriage organisations and get them to sign an ammendment requisition for the following amendments to be enacted under an rro.

The insertions are in bold type.
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Town police clauses act 1847

62 Penalties in case of horse drawn carriages being unattended at places of public resort

If the driver of any such hackney carriage leave it in any street or at any place of public resort or entertainment, whether it be hired or not, without some one proper to take care of it, any constable may drive away such hackney carriage and deposit it, and the horse or horses harnessed thereto, at some neighbouring livery stable or other place of safe custody; and such driver shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [level 1 on the standard scale] for such offence; and in default of payment of the said penalty upon conviction, and of the expenses of taking and keeping the said hackney carriage and horse or horses, the same, together with the harness belonging thereto, or any of them, shall be sold by order of the justice before whom such conviction is made, and after deducting from the produce of such sale the amount of the said penalty, and of all costs and expenses, as well of the proceedings before such justice as of the taking, keeping, and sale of the said hackney carriage, and of the said horse or horses and harness, the surplus (if any) of the said produce shall be paid to the proprietor of such hackney carriage.

37 Commissioners may licence hackney carriages And with respect to hackney carriages, be it enacted as follows:

The commissioners may licence to ply for hire within the prescribed distance, or if no distance is prescribed, within five miles from the General Post Office of the city, town, or place to which the special Act refers, (which in that case shall be deemed the prescribed distance,) hackney coaches or carriages of any kind or description adapted to the carriage of persons as they think fit. Be it also enacted that every licensed motorised hackney carriage whatever may be its form shall without obstruction while plying for hire within the prescribed distance with a licensed driver exercise its calling while standing at any place within the prescribed distance which is not forbidden by law.
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What these amendments acomplish are as follows.

If you read Section 62 of the 1847 act you will see it is specifically arranged for unnatended horses and their carriages. We no longer have horse and carriages plying for public hire and such enforcenment of vehicles left on taxi ranks has been substitued by traffic wardens with their ability to issue penalty notices with subsequent removal of the vehicle to a pound. Therefore anyone wishing to relieve themselves in a public toilet shouldn't have a criminal offence hanging over his head for the period they are away from a taxi rank.

Section 37 is added to with reference to making legal that which is currently made illegal by byelaws appertaining to vehicles proceeding to the nearest taxi rank. Again such conditions were introduced with the horse and carriage in mind to stop them cluttering up the highways. We have moved on since then and there are not enougth rank spaces to accomodate hackney carriages, in any licensed area outside of London. Therefore the words Be it also enacted that every licensed motorised hackney carriage whatever may be its form shall without obstruction while plying for hire within the prescribed distance with a licensed driver exercise its calling while standing at any place within the prescribed distance which is not forbidden by law. will remove the right of councils to make a bye law that criminalises hackney carriage drivers for not proceeding to the nearest taxi rank. The words "which is not forbidden by law." will make it lawful for any hackney carriage driver to ply for hire anywhere in the district that is lawful.

Regards

JD

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Section 40 of the 1847 act needs amending, it requires the purchase of a vehicle to accompany every application. In this day and age such a clause would not be entertained in any legislation. Therefore I sugest section 40 is amended by the text in bold and subsequently minor amendments made to some of the existing text in the rest of the section.

40 Persons applying for licence to sign a requisition.

On every application for a license the licensing commissioner must provisionally grant such request for said license subject to the applicant or applicants being fit and proper persons to hold such a license.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.