Taxi Driver Online

Ilford North MP proposes new laws at House of Commons to end ‘wild west’ taxi regulation


Ilford North MP Wes Streeting will present a 10 minute rule bill to the House of Commons today on the future of the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) industry.

The Labour MP argues that change is urgently needed to keep Londoners safe and prevent the iconic black taxi from being driven off London’s roads by ‘wild west’ conditions.

Under the proposed law, all operators of private hire vehicles would be required to insure their drivers, provide training and pay their taxes in the UK in order to gain a licence to operate.

“As a lifelong Londoner I use black cabs, mini cabs and apps like Uber to get around our city – healthy competition through a range of operators is a good thing for passengers and helps keep London moving,” Mr Streeting said.

“But while increased competition and new technology should be working in the interests of passengers, the explosion in the number of private hire vehicles on London’s streets has led to too many drivers with insufficient insurance and poor training.

“Some operators are also trying to drive their competition off the road through new apps by offering lower fares made possible by offshore tax arrangements – effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The MP has drawn up the bill in consultation with the Licensed Taxi Driver’s Association, Addison Lee, RMT Union and the Hailo app and has outlined key areas he want to address.

He wants to improve training and increase the basic training requirements for those seeking a PHV licence, guarantee insurance – switching to an “operators insurance” system where PHV companies are responsible for insuring their drivers, and make sure operators including multinationals pay fair taxes on money eared in the UK by closing “legal loopholes” which enable profits to be transferred to another country.

Mr Streeting added: “These wild west conditions in one of London’s most important transport industries are unacceptable and of we’re not careful, London’s iconic black cabs will be driven off the road by shoddy competitors.

“The Mayor of London has failed to tackle these issues and Transport for London needs to get its act together to promote fair competition and passenger safety.

“My message to taxi and minicab operators in London is simple: insure your drivers, train your drivers and pay your taxes or get off our streets – every Londoner should be able to get into a minicab knowing that it’s insured, that the driver is well trained and that the operator pays its fair share of taxes and my bill will see to that.”

source: http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/po ... _1_4466497

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

The chances of this bill passing....................nil.

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Grandad,

Why not go one further, and make sure all operators' employ the drivers, due to a tax loophole, (who pays the fuel) operators' can claim the drivers are self-employed, closing this loophole by making them employees,and would save millions across the whole of the UK in tax credits, and also stop the tax avoidance that is riff throughout the industry.

Well, I hope he is successful but I don't think it will pass through. I will be watching it's progress.

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Grandad,

Lots of operators don't even own the vehicle that the fuel goes into, have no control over the hours drivers work or when they work, no control over the number of days drivers work and whilst it may seem a pretendy self employment status, it's certainly more self employed than employed

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Under the proposed law, all operators of private hire vehicles would be required to insure their drivers, provide training and pay their taxes in the UK in order to gain a licence to operate.

eh a bit daft unless they were going to restrict or stop self employed status of PH drivers


But while increased competition and new technology should be working in the interests of passengers, the explosion in the number of private hire vehicles on London’s streets has led to too many drivers with insufficient insurance and poor training.

“Some operators are also trying to drive their competition off the road through new apps by offering lower fares made possible by offshore tax arrangements – effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The MP has drawn up the bill in consultation with the Licensed Taxi Driver’s Association, Addison Lee, RMT Union and the Hailo app and has outlined key areas he want to address.

this wouldn't be a veiled attempt to render Ufail impotent would it

I wonder how many free taxi rides he's getting for trying to bring this into law

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