Taxi Driver Online

Hello to all,

We have a situation here in West Berkshire where our wonderful council has decided to remove our "main rank".

There has been a rank in this location for in excess of 25 years, initally with 20 spaces, then reduced to 8 and at present 4 spaces with a feeder rank.

The council have decided in their wisdom to remove this rank making the exsisting feeder rank the main rank.

From what I can read in the Local Government and TC act - if the council wish to site a new rank they have to give formal notice in the press, to the chief constable etc etc... allowing 28 days for objections.

Is this the case for removal of a designated rank.


I would be grateful for any input and pointers towards any case law on this matter.

Thank you in advance

Mark
WBHC&PHA

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MDT
The Mad Cabbie

The legisaltion states that a LA may appoint taxi ranks from time to time.

They have no statutory duty to do so.

I don't know whether you will have any joy on this one, except perhaps asking them to give you an alternative or alternatives to the rank you have lost.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Ranks are appointed in section 63 of the LGMP Act 1976 which reads;

63. Stands for hackney carriages.—

(1) For the purposes of their functions under the Act of 1847, a district council may from time to time appoint stands for hackney carriages for the whole or any part of a day in any highway in the district which is maintainable at the public expense and, with the consent of the owner, on any land in the district which does not form part of a highway so maintainable and may from time to time vary the number of hackney carriages permitted to be at each stand.

(2) Before appointing any stand for hackney carriages or varying the number of hackney carriages to be at each stand in exercise of the powers of this section, a district council shall give notice to the chief officer of police for the police area in which the stand is situated and shall also give public notice of the proposal by advertisement in at least one local newspaper circulating in the district and shall take into consideration any objections or representations in respect of such proposal which may be made to them in writing within twenty-eight days of the first publication of such notice.

(3) Nothing in this section shall empower a district council to appoint any such stand—

(a)so as unreasonably to prevent access to any premises;

(b)so as to impede the use of any points authorised to be used in connection with a [F1 local service within the meaning of the Transport Act 1985] [ F2 or PSV operator’s licence granted under [F3 the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981]], as points for the taking up or setting down of passengers, or in such a position as to interfere unreasonably with access to any station or depot of any passenger road transport operators, except with the consent of those operators;

(c)on any highway except with the consent of the highway authority;
and in deciding the position of stands a district council shall have regard to the position of any bus stops for the time being in use.

(4) Any hackney carriage byelaws for fixing stands for hackney carriages which were made by a district council before the date when this section comes into force in the area of the council and are in force immediately before that date shall cease to have effect, but any stands fixed by such byelaws shall be deemed to have been appointed under this section.

(5) The power to appoint stands for hackney carriages under subsection (1) of this section shall include power to revoke such appointment and to alter any stand so appointed and the expressions “appointing” and “appoint” in subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall be construed accordingly.

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

Basically the council have to do the reverse to what they do when they appoint a rank, simply speaking they change the word 'appoint' to the word 'revoke'.

So to move a rank they have to advertise the ending of the old one, and the birth of the new one.

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IDFIMH

Thats what I think the chap was after.

CC

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

Many thanks to all... This is what I wanted to hear as our council have not issued a "de-appoint" notice.

Mark

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MDT
The Mad Cabbie

Find out and post on here what they have done; let's see if we can thrash this out and get some answers for you.

Irrespective of the procedural minutiae I think your problem is essentially that the provision of ranks is a discretionary power, thus at the end of the day councils can do what they want.

To that extent your response should be political rather than merely legal, thus an additional approach might be to launch a campaign, perhaps via the press, and by emailing councillors etc.

Emphasise the length of time the rank has been there, the pressure on rank space due to downturn in work, the possible impact on earnings in an already difficult environment, the inconvenience to passengers etc.

Apologies if you've already done this or it all sound like telling a grandmother how to suck eggs, but at the end of the day that's about all you can do.

And you don't say precisely why the council want to remove the rank, which clearly might have a bearing on any campaign to stop them.

And don't make the mistake that some campaigners do and be over-critical of the council and officialdom - all that'll achieve is to make them dig their heels in.

By the way, seeing the words 'Mad Cabbie" and Hungerford together made me think of Derrick Bird. Don't know why

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Caledonian Cabbie

They can do what they want, but they have to follow legal protocols whilst doing it. This they appear not to have done.

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IDFIMH

We had one taken off us in 1990 when MacDonalds purchased the land, for years we were shoved to the back of ASDA out of the way until some major building work within the town centre resulted in us getting a rank on an old street with a dead at the bottom.

The street was re paved and painted by the company who did all the major building work within the town centre.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

I wonder what the local transport plan for the area says, and if the guys association has gone down that route?

CC

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

http://www.westberks.gov.uk/CHttpHandle ... =25233&p=0

4.37 Passenger transport services, such as bus, community transport, and taxi services, have an important role for improving quality of life by enabling people to access essential services and facilities. They can also improve local congestion and air quality by allowing many people to travel on vehicles, thereby reducing the number of vehicle journeys made. However, there are issues and challenges that the Council and transport operators face in providing effective transport, some of which include;

· Relatively low usage of bus services in urban areas
· Delays to bus services at congestion hotspots
· Difficulties in providing cost-effective and viable bus services from rural
areas
· Shortage of early morning and late evening transport services
· Increasing costs in providing transport services and high bus fares
· Better integration of services and more effective availability of
information

6.3.50 It is recognised that some people are unable to use conventional public transport services. Where this is the case, taxi and community transport services are able to provide an invaluable service that enables access to essential services and facilities. The Council will therefore work with taxi, and community and voluntary sector transport operators to support and develop community transport provision where a sustainable demand has been identified.

6.4.32 Opportunities will be sought to co-ordinate, publicise, maintain, and where possible, enhance provision of community and voluntary transport, and to work with taxi and private hire companies to address the transport needs of the area. This will involve partnership working with parish councils, community and voluntary transport groups, and service providers, such as local healthcare. Together, these services can help meet the needs of the rural population that are unable to be met by conventional bus services.

Policy LTP PT4

TAXIS AND PRIVATE HIRE CARS

The Council will work with partners to:

i. Deliver appropriate infrastructure to support the activities and operations of taxi and private hire services in West Berkshire.

ii. Provide information through the adequate signing of taxi ranks and to continue to provide information for residents, particularly requiring specialised vehicles, through comprehensive transport guides.

iii. Facilitate training for call operators and drivers to improve services particularly for customers with a disability (as defined in the DDA).

iv. Encourage the provision of a range of vehicles to deliver services suitable to cater for all ability groups.

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