Taxi Driver Online

Email sent out by the Lincoln LO.

Good afternoon all,

A licensing officer from City of Wolverhampton Council (WCC) is coming in to see me at City Hall tomorrow, to discuss complaints he has received regarding one specific Lincoln licensed hackney carriage driver.

I don’t know the details yet other than various uber drivers have complained to him or members of his team.

That being said, is there anything specific you want me to raise with him? Specifically regarding the conduct of any of their licensed drivers.

As I have informed many of you, I have confirmed using the online registers (see below) that Uber hold an operator’s licence in Wolverhampton (licence expires 13/05/2026). I have also checked the various VRNs you have provided me and confirmed that those vehicle are licensed by WCC and that the details on the vehicles plates are correct. Obviously I can’t check all of the drivers licence details as I don’t have that information.

Wolverhampton Driver Portal (iapply.co.uk) https://iapply.co.uk/wdp/user/public-register-search

Obviously this issue has come up before and will again but UBER vehicles are allowed to operate anywhere in the Country using the UBER app. I’ve confirmed this with my contact at UBER and this is backed up with what I’ve read on the matter, including case law articles etc.

This applies to both private hire and hackney carriage UBER vehicles. Although hackney carriage UBER vehicles would not be able to work off Lincoln ranks.

If however an UBER vehicle is directly picking up passengers off the street and a booking has not been made via the UBER app (i.e. it is illegally plying for hire) then the local authority that licences that UBER vehicle may take enforcement action i.e. potentially revoke the driver’s badge. Also, an offence is committed in the district where the illegal activity take place, so if it happened in Lincoln then City of Lincoln Council along with the original licensing local authority would potentially be able to take action.

I advise you that if you think an UBER vehicle is illegally plying for hire, then make a note of all the details you can and then contact the requisite local authority to confirm that the booking is genuine.

Please find links to WCC’s website below that you can use if you feel the their vehicles are illegally plying for hire. You can also report any illegal activity directly to me but I will require actual evidence rather than the assumption that an UBER’s presence in Lincoln automatically means they are operating in an illegal manner. Other local authorities will have similar links and information on their websites but I do know that the vast majority of UBER vehicles seen in Lincoln are licensed by WCC.

Homepage | City Of Wolverhampton Council https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/
Taxi Complaints – Report a taxi driver | City Of Wolverhampton Council https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/licenc ... complaints

Details for emailing the licensing team directly are below.

Email Licensing | City Of Wolverhampton Council https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/licenc ... -licensing
Licensing_comp@wolverhamton.gov.uk

I would recommend using their online complaints form if you see an UBER vehicle illegally plying for hire. As I’ve said before UBER vehicles can work anywhere in the Country using the UBER app but obviously if they pick-up people off the street without being booked then that is illegal.

I also have a licensing contact at WCC as apparently there were a lot of UBER vehicles operating in Lincoln in the latter part of January.

Due to this WCC enforcement officers came down the following weekend. They will periodically be making enforcement visits and I have asked them to let me know when so that we can join in.

Please feel free to forward this email on to any other driver, for their information.


Kind regards
Thomas Charlesworth
Licensing Officer
T 01522 873263

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IDFIMH

If the driver is licensed by Lincoln why is the WCC occifer visiting?

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

The driver lives in Nottingham and is licensed by Wolverhampton.

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Former taxi driver

but confused now...

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Badly worded I suppose, but I think "to discuss complaints he has received regarding one specific Lincoln licensed hackney carriage driver" is actually a Lincoln Hackney Driver complaining about Wolverhampton Licensed PH Drivers and vehicles.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Couldn't help notice that there's no capital to Uber. Thus strictly speaking it means uber in the sense that it was pre-Uber, so therefore the very best of drivers

But in the rest of the message UBER is in all capitals. I mean

Unlike Chris, I read that to mean that the Wolves-badged Uber drivers were complaining about the actions of a Lincoln-badged HCD - maybe he's been hassling the Uber drivers. But who knows, and Jimbo's saying the HCD is actually licensed by Wolves??

But hardly surprising that there's a lot of stuff going either way

Unless they're badged and plated by Lincoln City Council

(And because they're badged and plated HC, they wouldn't need to accept bookings via a licensed private hire operator.)

"to discuss complaints he has received FROM one specific Lincoln licensed hackney carriage driver about Wolverhampton Licensed PH Drivers and vehicles"

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Q. Can a hackney licensed driver/car work as an Uber in another LA?

(it can as a PHV thru a base elsewhere)

Obviously IN its LA its meter rates would apply over and above Uber rates unless the meter was higher...

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

IMO yes, provided his licensing authority doesn't have a condition that the vehicle must work 'predominatly' in his licensing area.

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IDFIMH

Rutland, Rossendale and Shropshire do these days but do wolves ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

That'll be for HCs though, Edders, correct me if I'm wrong.

It's Wolves PHVs that are working here, there and everywhere, and there's nothing that can be done to stop that, assuming the law is complied with.