Taxi Driver Online

Dear Sir,

officers of the council have reviewed all policies and procedures relating to the hackney carriage and private hire trade, and these are being widely consulted on with stakeholders and other interested groups. Your company has been identified as the provider of a service falling into one of the above categories of licence granted by, but not presently being licenced by the council.

In the absence of any other licensing regime, and that the service and vehicle provided falls within the legaslative provisions for either private hire or hackney carriage services, it is the councils intention to licence such services to ensure compliance with the law.

Briefly and for your information, a private hire service is the supply of a vehicle to seat ( 8 ) or fewer passengers, with the services of a driver for the purpose of carrying passengers. In order to lawfully provide those services, Three licences MUST be in place, A private hire operators licence, Private hire vehicle licence and a private hire drivers licence!

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Quote ( IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY OTHER LICENSING REGIME )

What the hell are they on about VOSA CURRENTLY LICENSE most of the limo ops i know in Plymouth, however i am glad PCC have now woken up to the fact that limos are here to stay as a short while ago we approached the council and were basicly told to sod off as they were not willing to license us, i wonder why they have changed their minds now!!! I will say though the amount of paperwork i have received is phenominal and personally i think i will stick with VOSA until such times as the council get realistic with their licensing regime for these special events vehicles as they called them.
Yes thats right im now going back in to the business for myself instead of earning other people money, however i will only be carrying 8 passengers or less.

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Legal and proud

Loads a love from BERTIE !!

Which does beg the question as to why VOSA license vehicles seating less than 9 punters?

Maybe if the act was written with customer safety in mind, rather than the mess it is, and maybe if VOSA knew what they where doing in relation to small PSVs, then I could understand why.

But they don't.

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IDFIMH

Mr S could you please expain why you think VOSA dont know what they are doing with regard to licencing less than 9 passenger PSV 's.

I am of the opinion that the council dont know what they are doing as this is all new to them and indeed have basicly fobbed us off in the past, i say new to them as they class us as SPECIAL EVENTS VEHICLES, WE are NOT Taxis or BUSES. Taxis are the council speciality imo and our vehicles are not, however if the council could get their finger out of their bum and invite us limo ops to a meeting rather than just asking us for our comments on paper which we all know would be disregarded, then perhaps i and a lot more ops would take the time to speak to them and indeed reason with them, but as it stands i think i would say stuff the council and stay with vosa, i appreciate a lot of you folks wont like that but hey at least im honest and i wont hide my true feelings on the matter, as long as im legal 1 way or another i personally dont give a nats ar_se

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Legal and proud

Loads a love from BERTIE !!

A good example is the blue disc.

Have spoke to about half a dozen different VOSA folks the lenght and breadth of the country and no-one knows if they have to be in place for the hire to be legal.

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IDFIMH

In relation to Plymouth it's a fact they don't know what they are doing.

But VOSA are worse, far worse.

Out of all those VOSA folks I spoke to only one knew their was guidance for 'restricted PSV ops licenses', but he had never read it.

As for your TC licensing Limos, well the act is written to allow anything to be used as a bus, as long as the DVLA license it. A classic example being Tuk Tuks.

But the answer to all our prayers is coming from our good friends at the EU who have passed the 'type approval' for taxi/PH, and will soon do likewise for PSVs.

I look forward to seeing how the likes of Tuk Tuks and the Limos pass that particular hurdle.

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IDFIMH

Hummm interesting times ahead then, but as for the disc having to be displayed to make the hire legal then imo YES, why else would the disc be issued??? its not to frame I like to make a point of showing customers the disc also it kind of makes em feel better knowing they are in a licenced limo, which in turn makes me feel better

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Legal and proud

Loads a love from BERTIE !!

So doesn't a vehicle licensed by VOSA as a small PSV have to register a route and timetable?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

No, but they must travel at least 15 miles in a straight line from base on all jobs. This is what I have been told.

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Grandad,

Not if they don't want too.

The PSV op can have a 'flexible route' which allows him to pick up and drop off anywhere he likes. As long as the journey isn't more than 15 miles, and all customers are charge the same price.

i.e. one customer pays £3 for a 15 miles ride, 6 customers will pay £18 for the 15 miles ride.

It's worth pointing out that any vehicle with a DVLA license can work as a bus.

It's also worth pointing out that any PSV vehicle seating less than 9 customers doesn't need a PSV driver driving it.

No wonder certain sections of the Limo trade are falling over themselves to get PSV licenses.

But I would like to state, here and now, I have VOSA at the very top of my agenda.

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IDFIMH

For those out there that want to run a bus service with non-CRB checked, and non-PSV, drivers, or for those out there that want to run a PH service without the need of all that licensing lark, then good old VOSA have produced a nice little guidance sheet for you.

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/Tuktukrules.doc

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IDFIMH

The DfT have kindly issued a press release today about type approval, and if anyone wants to read the 330 page EU directive then please feel free to do so.

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicle ... ovalin1715

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IDFIMH

There's also bundles of info on this link.

http://www.vca.gov.uk/vehicletype/index.asp

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IDFIMH

Yes they do have to be displayed whenever the vehicle is being used for hire & reward.

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you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

no, unless it is doing regular (and what is regular) journeys of less than 15 miles.

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you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Do me a favour, could you ring up VOSA and tell them that.

The problem is, like many things in realtion to PSV regs, they aren't wriiten down and/or haven't ever been tested by the courts.

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IDFIMH