Taxi Driver Online

Another one - last similar article was in the Times a few weeks ago, this is the Telegraph

So maybe they're more interested in this sort of thing than the workaday trade licensing stuff...

But not entirely clear how the council came to get involved - maybe complaints from the trade, but there's no-one quoted. It just says the council got in contact after an advertorial piece on the Kent Online website.


Pub banned from offering customers taxi home

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/0 ... i-ashford/

Council tells landlord he has breached licensing laws even though he only provides service for charitable donations

A council has been branded “mean-spirited” for banning a pub landlord from giving customers rides home.

Paul Hartfield, who took over the Flying Horse in Smarden in Ashford, Kent, had been offering customers lifts in his own black cab after taking over the pub from his daughter.

A former black cab garage owner himself, Mr Hatfield hoped the service would ensure customers returned safely to their homes without being over the limit.

The landlord earns no profit from the scheme as he asked customers accepting the lifts to donate to the MND Association, a regular customer having been diagnosed with the disease.

The cab service has already helped around 100 punters get home safely since Mr Hartfield began running it in November 2025 and raised £700 for the motor neurone disease charity in December alone.

However on Friday, following the publication of an article about the free rides by a local newspaper, Ashford borough council wrote to Mr Hatfield telling him they would have to stop.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Hartfield said: “It’s mean-spirited that we are doing this for charity and I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do, to be honest.”

He added: “With the Government increasing business rates and rising costs, it just feels like it’s all going against us pubs at the moment.”

Like giving a friend a lift home

The Telegraph has been campaigning to save Britain’s pubs in light of pressure from rising tax burdens and Labour’s plans to toughen the drink-driving rules in England and Wales, which some have warned could put the livelihoods of rural publicans at risk.

Mr Hatfield, whose pub dates back to 1790, added: “It is just like a friend giving another friend a lift home.”

An official from the local authority’s licensing team wrote: “As discussed, it has come to the attention of the Licensing Authority, through a recent KentOnline article, that you have purchased a black cab for the purposes of transporting customers of the Flying Horse, Smarden.

“It is understood from the article that the service is offered to customers booking a table, with a suggested charitable donation. It is also understood that the service has been offered since November with significant uptake reported.”

The notice informed Mr Hatfield that his offer of a “private hire vehicle” means he is subject to “requirements for local authority licensing”.

Even though the publican has explained he is not profiting from the scheme, the council official wrote that an individual can “be said to derive commercial benefit” even when a payment is not made to the driver or company.

They directed Mr Hatfield to a webpage on licence applications, concluding that a vehicle was being provided to passengers “in circumstances where the provision of the vehicle accrues a business benefit”.

Paul Upton, a regular who has been coming to the pub for 20 years, described the council’s move as “utterly ridiculous”.

“It is just bizarre, it’s complete nonsense,” he told The Telegraph.

Mr Upton, a 55-year-old insurance consultant, said: “This is a guy who has put himself out, he’s bought the car with his own money, he’s bought the petrol and he pays for his own insurance.

“The concept of trying to stop it is just pure jobsworth nonsense, this could easily be waived through as a charitable thing which is well-intentioned and helpful to people.”

Shortly after the Telegraph pubs campaign was launched, a support package was announced by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to provide temporary relief to pubs from planned business rate rises, which she announced in her November budget.

UKHospitality, the industry body, had warned that the typical pub faced a 15 per cent increase in its rates bill in 2026, amounting to £7,000 extra per year by 2028-29.

An average of four pubs per day have announced their impending closure since the start of this year, despite Ms Reeves’s support policies unveiled in January.

Data from the Campaign for Real Ale analysed by The Telegraph, shows that 212 pubs have announced closures since the start of 2026.

An Ashford borough council spokesman told The Telegraph it was in discussions with Mr Hartfield.

This is the article referred to. Nothing to suggest complaints were made by the trade, but one or two of the comments below this piece point out that it's hire and reward, effectively.

And one commenter points out that the number plates are illegal in three respects - fonts, the BS AU number is missing, as are the details of the number plate supplier.

Which may not sound much, but a less illegal plate in Fife was an inspection failure item, thus meaning a £100 retest fee, and now a suspension appearance in front of the licensing committee


Landlord of The Flying Horse in Smarden, near Ashford, buys black cab to offer customers free lifts

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/ne ... om-336682/

An *insurance consultant* complaining about 'jobsworth nonsense', eh?

I suspect there would be a good bit of jobsworthy nonsense going on if an insurance claim was to be made for something that happened while doing one of this 'free' jobs

100%, be that the local or national trade.

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IDFIMH

He should know f***ing better.

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IDFIMH

He could have, maybe should have, been prosecuted for plying for hire.

His cab, along with the 'taxi' signage, looks more like a licensed cab than most other licensed cabs.

I'm surprised his insurance company has allowed it, provided, of course, he told them.

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IDFIMH

Of course, this is now all over the press, although this in the local outlet contains a bit more information.

But it's a classic 'killjoy council' type of story, so no surprise it's been picked up so much.

But you'd think someone somewhere would just mention the basic rule about 'with a view to profit' or whatever, as opposed to his claim that it's just like 'offering a friend a lift home', or that for that reason it's not 'hire and reward'


Ashford Borough Council tells landlord of The Flying Horse in Smarden, near Ashford, to stop free taxi service

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/ne ... ce-336847/

A pub landlord who bought a black cab to give his punters a lift home for free has been ordered to stop by the council.

Paul Hartfield, who runs The Flying Horse in Smarden, near Ashford, set up the initiative in November and was offering lifts to customers - many of them friends - at the pub as long as they lived no more than three miles away.

The service did not make any profit for the pub, with passengers instead encouraged to make a donation to charity.

However, officials at Ashford Borough Council (ABC) have now told the landlord to cease operations, as he does not have a licence.

Mr Hartfield was left shocked by the move and is now seeking advice from a lawyer. He sees no difference between what he is doing and offering a friend a lift home.

A statement from the pub provided to KentOnline reads: “We understand the law and understand that laws must be adhered to.

“Our understanding was that licences were for ‘hire and reward’; neither of which apply here. Customers do not ‘book’ for us to take them home, and they do not pay for the service.

“As The Flying Horse is a small, family-run, village pub, the customers are my friends, and I am simply taking a few friends home after a drink in the pub, which I’m sure many ‘designated drivers’ do every day.

“It really isn’t a massive part of the business, in fact, it’s very small and has no financial impact on the business. The roads around our area are poor, with many potholes, limited pavements and no lighting.

“This is not a business venture.”

Mr Hartfield, who used to own a black cab garage, said the scheme was designed to keep the venue’s “community-first” spirit going.

Since starting the taxi service three months ago, Mr Hartfield has already helped about 100 people get home safely and helped raise £700 for the MND Association.

Speaking about the attention his ban from the council has achieved, he added: “Our brewery, Shepherd Neame saw our cab, they were proud of it and wanted to show it on their socials.

“Then all of this happened and every news outlet has wanted a story, mainly because most are horrified at the way someone now can’t give someone a lift and raise money for charity.

“Child minders who carry children in their vehicles daily, much more often than our cab would ever be used, do not need these insurances and are not told by the council they aren’t allowed to carry passengers in their cars. I see no difference.”

A spokesman for ABC said they “recognise the good intentions behind the ‘pub taxi’ service and their charitable community fundraising for the MND Association”.

But they added: “However the council must balance good intentions with our regulatory responsibilities as the Licensing Authority and as soon as it came to our attention, the business was informally contacted to find out more.

“On confirming the service amounted to private hire, the business was initially asked to cease the service in absence of the relevant licences.

“We can confirm that we have provided the business with information on private hire licensing in order to comply with current legislation and our licensing team remains open to assisting the business should they wish to apply for the relevant licence.

“A business providing a car for hire with the services of a driver – with or without direct payment of money – is a licensable activity.

“Whilst exemptions to the requirements exist, these are typically limited to services such as funeral cars, wedding cars, care-workers transporting clients under their care, and genuine ambulance services.

“The purposes of private hire licensing is to ensure that drivers, vehicles, and operators are safe and suitable, so that that unregulated transport services do not pose a risk to the safety of the passengers or the wider public.

“This is completed by performing checks mandated through best practice and statutory guidance relating to driver backgrounds, vehicle standards, and ensuring that the vehicle is appropriately insured for such services.

“ABC remain committed to ensuring public safety in this regard."

Interesting point, though - what's the legal position with child minders giving lifts to kids?

(And a very similar point, I think, made by both Grandad and Edders in another recent thread about playgroups etc transporting kids around...)

But wouldn't licensing that vehicle fall foul of the provision in the legislation which prohibits plating vehicles as private hire unless they are satisfied it's "not of such design and appearance as to lead any person to believe that the vehicle is a hackney carriage".

I mean, his number plate even has the word 'CAB' on it. (Although nothing illegal about that aspect of the number plate per se.)

And while you could maybe modify the appearance of some vehicles used as HCs so they don't look like one (particularly saloons, but also some of the more modern purpose-built HCs), it would be difficult to make a TX *not* look like an HC

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/57/section/48

And, more generally, the ABC statement is a bit long winded, particularly since it could have maybe explained the 'view to profit'/'pecuniary advantage' thing a bit more clearly, whereas this maybe doesn't get to the nitty gritty, and instead they maybe go off on a bit of a tangent about the whole vetting thing etc:

You do have to wonder if there wasn't an element of this being a publicity stunt by the landlord ?

It would have certainly widened his customer base

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

At a rough guess I'd say he initially did it in good faith, but possibly milking the publicity a bit now...

To be fair, though, the press love stuff like this, particularly those who don't like 'jobsworth' councils and officials, and also those who have this idealised image of the English pub that needs to be preserved, and see stuff like this as threatening their existence

One of the news articles around is on the GB News website, and it seems he appeared on there, and the incredulous presenters were all 'community spirit and cohesion' and 'can't do a bit of good for people', sort of thing

Video on the news piece page here:

https://www.gbnews.com/news/kent-news-a ... free-rides

A few years back, maybe 10 or more, the DfT published a very detailed paper basically saying what they believed to be legal, and what they didn't.

This included vet runarounds, child minders, ambulance cars, and several similar travel options.

In short, they didn't think child minding transport was unlawful, although they kept on saying it was only their view, and a court might say otherwise.

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IDFIMH

I wonder if those presenters would share that view if it were a driver in a pretend black cab driving around the North West offering to take young girls to school for free.

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IDFIMH

Council issues Press Release.

https://www.ashford.gov.uk/news/latest- ... e-smarden/

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IDFIMH