Taxi Driver Online

Taken from the June 2004 edition of Private Hire and Courier

Crackdown on stretch limo ‘confusion’

Limousine owners have been served notice that they can no-longer exploit a vehicle inspection and licensing loophole

The days of stretch limo companies using dodgy vehicles and thumbing their nose at the law are fast coming to an end. The ‘PSV or PHV’ basic position is that some British limousine firms have exploited a previously un-co-ordinated approach between public service vehicle examiners and private hire vehicle officers to escape being licensed.

Until now. In a bid to throw some light onto this ‘grey area’ a multi-agency operation of Public Carriage Office (PCO), Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) and Vehicle and Operators Services Agency (VOSA) officers targeted vehicles in London’s West End with a series of roaming mobile patrols.

As Roy Ellis head of the PCO said: “ By doing a combined crackdown we can prevent them playing off one enforcement agency against another.” VOSA inspection officers were also on standby at the Westbourne Park bus garage a mile or so east of Paddington in case more detailed follow-up vehicle inspections were needed.

Following a pre-operation briefing by sergeant Dave Hilson at the TOCU head-quarters down in Victoria three police vans with uniformed officers and PCO licensing staff, plus a patrol back-up and the VOSA examination team headed off to the happy hunting grounds of London’s West End.

Unlike TOCU’s regular tout-busts which use static checkpoints to identify illegal drivers Operation Stretch needed to catch the vehicles with passengers so that drivers could not dispute the numbers they were carrying.

The only problem on this night was at first nobody could find a stretch limousine for love nor money and Whitehall and Trafalgar Square soon became very familiar sights indeed. Mr Ellis and his PCO team were not ones to waste an opportunity however and kept themselves amused by noting the details of black cab drivers whose vehicles were not up to scratch. It seems that some of our hackney friends are not as squeaky clean as they like to make out.

The early starting time was blamed for the distinct lack of vehicles and it was decided to check out Whitehall Place which is a known parking location for drivers before and during a night’s work.

At last – a limo! And the TOCU and PCO officers were joined by the VOSA team who went over the car with a fine-toothed comb. Operator and drivers details were checked on a laptop license database while the vehicle was checked for mechanical defects.

In this instance both the company and the driver were from Swindon and while obviously not under PCO jurisdiction he was told his details would be checked with his local licensing authority. He had been somewhat surprised to find himself the attention of so many police and PCO officers but was more than willing to co-operate. Thankfully, this level of co-operation was repeated throughout the night.

Similar to the ‘feast or famine’ rules that apply to double-decker buses the enforcement agencies were soon spoilt for choice and the this time all the vehicles had passengers.

One driver was of particular interest as he had more than eight customers. The driver though insisted rather smugly that Cliff Llewelyn, senior PCO licensing manager and his team couldn’t touch him as he was carrying more than eight passengers and outside the remit of private hire legislation.

Cliff then introduced him to Bill Newberry and his VOSA officers who asked him why he didn’t have a PSV license when he had just admitted to having nine passengers.

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. This wise-guy was exactly the sort of person Operation Stretch was designed to catch out, as joint operations involving VOSA and PCO officers mean there is no more playing off one licensing authority against the other.

The corner of the Strand and the Aldwych continued to reap a harvest of vehicles whose drivers and companies failed the licensing criteria in one form or another, and out of 25 limos stopped on the night only one was driven by a licensed private hire driver working for a licensed operator.

Nine vehicles were also given prohibition (PG9) notices which took effect immediately. One driver who had just dropped off a family to see the Lion King stage show was collared for having tinted glass above the 75 per cent allowed for front windscreens and side windows.

After talking to his boss on his mobile phone the man tried (with no success) to scratch the tint off with a pocket penknife. He was eventually allowed to drive the vehicle back to base as long as he promised to keep the side windows wound down.

Another vehicle was PG9’d for having dodgy wheel alignment while two more were escorted to the Westbourne Park bus garage for a closer inspection. Dripping brake fluid and a rather care-free approach to spot-welding vehicle joints were just two of the problems uncovered.

The enforcement agencies had expected, and planned for, passengers in limos who when stopped later in the evening would be less co-operative than those who had been turfed out before a night’s drinking had begun. Customers in one vehicle on the Charing Cross Road simply refused to get out and walk the last few yards to their destination, while nine particularly ‘well refreshed’ young men were none too pleased to be told they must find alternative transport to get them from Trafalgar Square to the Venue nightclub in New Cross.

Thankfully, the diplomatic skills of sergeant Hilson and his TOCU officers prevented either situation getting out of hand. Overall, the night’s work was considered a success by TOCU, PCO and VOSA as potentially life-threatening vehicles had been taken off the road.

It was a little worrying that only one of the 25 limos was driven by a licensed driver from a licensed operator, but the word will soon get round the stretch limo companies that their vehicles must be driven by bon fide drivers from firms registered with the PCO.

Future multi-agency operations will also drive home the message that this is one grey area that will no longer be tolerated.

So why are a few councils doing something about this mess, whilst most are sticking their heads in the sand?

I wonder if councillors would allow their kids to be driven in one of these?

Well done to the PCO for joining the few councils that seem to care about their residents safety.

However my local rag has just done a lovely promotion trying to get more to use these death-traps.

http://www.thisisbrightonandhove.co.uk/ ... S20ZM.html

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IDFIMH

Good story from PH&C.
Perhaps 'Taxi Show and Stabbings Monthly' could learn from it.

It's a great article, but it does go to show how hard it is to catch these so and so's out.

But if it needs van loads of police, LOs and mechanics to sort it out, surely someone from the Government should pull their fingers out and ban these bloody things.

Alex

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ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ

Simply the best taxi forum in the whole wide world. www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Everyone who gets in is a star?

He must be confusing 'star' with 'mug'!

We do it right, even if most of the others don't.
http://www.luxuryamericanlimos.co.uk/

Does anyone know if this hit squad is still in existance or have they ceased all activities?

Regards

JD