Taxi Driver Online

Black cab drivers see red over bus-lane fines

August 28, 2012

Black cab drivers have been wrongly issued with fixed penalty notices for using bus lanes after a council blunder.

Some Reading cabbies received a flurry of tickets at the weekend, fining them for use on dates between Friday, August 10, and Friday, August 17.

One driver was issued with 18 tickets and another with 12, even though it is legal for the taxis, which are wheelchair accessible, to use bus lanes.

Mirza Beg received six tickets for driving in bus lanes in Friar Street and Stanshawe Road between Friday, August 10, and Sunday, August 12.

He told getreading he called the council to let them know there had been a mistake, but was told to write to it with proof his cab was wheelchair-friendly.

Mr Beg said: “I said ‘I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying. I’m a black cab licensed by RBC. It’s a purpose-built vehicle with a ramp inside’.

“They are wasting money, they are saying they are strapped for cash.

“The person that’s doing it, if they can’t see it’s a black cab – it can’t be any clearer.”

Asif Rashid, who chairs Reading Taxi Association, said: “I don’t know what’s going on.

“All these vehicles have been using these day in, day out and we’ve not had any problems at all.

“All of a sudden last weekend drivers started receiving fixed penalty notices.

“It seems that not everybody is getting them, only a select few vehicles and quite clearly in the pictures – because I’ve seen them – there’s a black cab taxi.

“Suddenly receiving £1,000 worth of tickets through your letter box isn’t nice.

“I just don’t know what’s going on. I’ve sent them back to the transport department and said you need to write it off.

“It’s not just drivers receiving them when they shouldn’t be – but times of austerity when the council say they’ve got no money – how much money are they wasting by printing these off and sending them to people?”

Reading Borough Council spokesman Dalitso Njolinjo said: “For a short period of time at the beginning of this month, certain RBC licensed Hackney Carriages were wrongly fined for driving in bus lanes.

“This error was quickly recognised and all fines issued in error have been cancelled.

“We apologise for an inconvenience caused.”

Source; http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2119 ... lane_fines

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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let me guess a temp in the fines issuing office as holiday cover ?

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

Well I do, they have got a f***ing idiot issuing the tickets.

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IDFIMH

The signage can only state buses taxis and cyclists only, they cannot stipulate what type of taxi, so a saloon hack can by law use them

The signs in Nottingham state wheelchair accesable taxis. Are you saying that this is not legal? If so what legislation is being broken by the council?

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Grandad,

There's an official Government statute that lists all the approved signs stating the colour, size, wording, font etc that are legal. Any that do not conform to the standards laid down are not approved and therefore not legal, which in turn means they cannot be enforced.

This may be the legislation http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994 ... 22#match-1
If not you can search here ; http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ also handy for searching all laws in the UK.

So if there's no officially approved roadsign with the wording 'wheelchair accesible taxis' or the sign is the wrong size, shape or colour it cannot be enforced as in the eyes of the law no such sign exists, and if it doesn't exist you can't contravene it !

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2049 ... orists_mad

Any taxi then

Yes Skip, any taxi, as the sign states. Remembering that in law 'taxi' means hackney carriage.

Should have also mentioned in my previous post that signs are not enforceable unless a TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) has been submitted by the LA to the relevant authority, used to be the Dept of Transport but didn't they change their name ?

So if a stretch of road has signs stating 30mph but no TRO has been entered, or the TRO states a different limit then the signs are meaningless, it's things like this that Mr. Loophole makes his money from.

So in the case of Nottingham not only do the signs have to be valid but a TRO that matches what the signs state must be in place as well, if either is missing or incorrect then they can't be enforced.

I can vouch for that and I have also seen signs elsewhere that specify WAV's somewhere in Essex but I have forgotten where it was now so skippy can you quote the relevant legislation that says this is illegal ?

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

In the case of Nottingham the sign is legal.

DFT authorization notice here ; http://assets.dft.gov.uk/trafficauths/case-1975.pdf

Taken from the website here ; http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/tpm/traffic-signs-signals/

So because I took Skippy's advice and got a ticket in Nottingham, can I now sue him or TDO for issuing incorrect advice?

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Grandad,

Can you sue an internet persona?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Yes because there is a real person behind that persona

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

Not sure that's a universal view.

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IDFIMH

If it ain't legal, then the council are probably displaying a non-DfT-approved traffic sign.

The DfT have a big book of these that is available somewhere on the Internet.

_________________
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.