Taxi Driver Online

I was always under the impression the LA were the only ones who could revoke or suspend licenses.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

But isn't Boris the LA?

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IDFIMH

I am sending TDO a copy of the e-mail

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

No doubt they will be delighted.

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IDFIMH

Dont send me one, I've had one today from Mongolia seeking advice

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I know what is upsetting everyone.... and that is that somebody has decided to change the law without any consultation with... national associations.... unions... licensing officers....howverydarethey

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Him again?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

And that's a valid point.

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IDFIMH

Having seen the correspondense in question I have to say that the LTDA and the NPHA have it wrong and they failed to understand that the statutory law has not been changed. Only the fact that in addition the crime has been added to the PDN register of offences.

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.

Perhaps this is why the NTA run things past its solicitor first?

regards

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

As I have said JD.. I do not know what is true or false... but it would seem somebody decided not to consult.. after all we're only the Taxi Trade

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

What happens is that the minsitries are consulted and in this case the transport ministry would have been consulted and in particular the taxi division but it need go no further. Therefore there is no legal requirement for a wider consultation and when you consider no laws have been changed except for the inclusion to the PDN register then that is understandable.

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.

just recieved this

Just to confirm that the Delegated Legislation committee has been discharged – final confirmation that the proposed Order will not make progress whilst it includes the taxi touting provision.



Also, we thought you might be interested in this exchange involving the Tory frontbencher David Burrowes and the Home Secretary during another debate in Parliament yesterday:



Mr. David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con): I would be grateful if the Home Secretary could clarify whether the offences in the Bill will lead to the extension of penalty notices for disorder, given that the Delegated Legislation Committee that was due to sit today at this time to consider other offences, relating to the possession of cannabis, making off without payment and taxi touting, had to be cancelled because the Justice Secretary had not consulted the Mayor about the implications for taxi touting and other offences. Is that not an indication that under this Government we have soft justice, justice on the cheap and justice on the quiet?



Jacqui Smith: No, it is a sign of the fact that, having received representations—not just from the Mayor, but from Rape Crisis and others—the Secretary of State for Justice acted quickly to ensure that it was possible not only to remove the provisions dealing with taxi touting, but to safeguard, as I hope hon. Members will see later this week, the provisions dealing with fixed penalty notices for cannabis possession.

Cannabis clampdown on hold as on-the-spot fines are withdrawn


GOVERNMENT plans for a clampdown on cannabis users were in disarray today after the withdrawal of sweeping new powers for on-the-spot fines.

Under a scheme that was due to be introduced next Monday, when cannabis is upgraded to a class B drug, people caught with the substance for a second time were meant to be facing instant £80 penalty notices.

The fines were intended to be one of the key parts of a three-strikes-and-you're-out penalty system that ministers hoped would curb the use of the drug amid growing fears about its impact on users' health.

In an embarrassing hitch, however, the fines have now been put on hold after the Ministry of Justice decided to withdraw a Parliamentary order that would have given police the power to issue penalty notices for 21 offences, including possession of cannabis.

The retreat follows a decision to abandon the introduction of £80 on-the-spot fines for bogus mini-cab drivers - the powers for which were also contained on the same Parliamentary order - and to reconsider whether instant penalties should be used for 19 other offences.

These include a wide range of crimes, including the sale of cigarettes to under 18s, making off without payment and the sale of alcohol to the intoxicated.

Although ministers insist that they remain determined to introduce the cannabis fines and will return to Parliament rapidly to seek the necessary authorisation, a lack of time means that the penalties are unlikely to be in place in time for next Monday's regrading of cannabis.

That will raise fears that the police, who are meant to be enforcing the drug's tougher classification, will not be able to begin their new approach - and their more robust message will be lost.

Meanwhile, campaigners were celebrating the Government's decision to abandon on-the-spot fines for mini-cab "touting" - claiming it would water down punishment for the offence.

Eight cab-related sex offences are recorded in London each month, and the Government's plan had been opposed by Transport for London, the London Private Hire Car Association and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, set up in the name of the 25-year-old estate agent who was last seen getting into a car in Fulham in July 1986.

A spokesman for the trust said: "We are absolutely delighted because these fines would have been utterly inappropriate and absolutely ridiculous. An £80 fixed penalty would not be a deterrent at all. These moves would have meant that potentially dangerous and illegal cab touts would have been treated no more severely than a motorist committing a parking offence."

London's cab enforcement team made 4,500 arrests for touting in the past five years and dealt with 2,000 offences with summonses. Most cases went to magistrates' courts, where offenders were fined £135 each.

There are 54,000 licensed private hire drivers in the capital but there are thousands of bogus cab drivers and tens of thousands across Britain.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin