Taxi Driver Online

Sheffield council want to make a few changes and one of them is to make having a taxi firm radio a requirement of the licence. Is this legal?
I can undestand driver training etc as something needed to maintain standards but to force drivers to pay for radios when they are happy to work from ranks (a great many do have PH circuit radios) doesn't seem right. What are your thoughts?

I've got a great idea, why not ask Mr Jeffries then we can all benefit from his knowledge of Taxi legislation.

Regards

JD

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Sounds unreasonable to me. A court may agree.

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And I bet this has the full support of the taxi radio firms in your area.

Is it legal, most certainly not, and I would bet a pound to a penny any challenge would succeed.

And if it doesn't, well Taxicall is only £12 a month.

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IDFIMH

Taxi-call is a good option and may be up and running before long but being a condition of licence is a little disturbing. They have other proposals for driver training and such like which do make sense if we are to imprive standards but this proposal has a bearing on the delimit issue. The original report into provision of taxi services was revisited and question raised as to why there wasn't the predicted improvement in service even with twice as many cabs in the city, with too many cabs just sitting on the ranks. The one answer that all agreed on was that cab drivers are not organising and tendering for contract work, which they need to do if they are to compete with PH. The only way they see the cabbies being forced to organise is through a shotgun wedding to a radio circuit and hope the marriage works.
It does have logic but being forced by law seems a bit dodgy IMO.

I would just ask your council as to what legal basis they are using to add such a condition of license?

I know of one council that did likewise, but that was because of a shortage of one type of vehicle.

Once the suppose shortage was supposedly sorted, the old non-radio policy was reinstated.

Thank f*** councils know best.

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IDFIMH

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me you're trying to have a go for some reason, only I don't know what the hell you're on about and who is Mr Jeffries anyway? It's the reply in the deregulation topic which got me thinking and it seems you may have the wrong tree

But HC are governed by the by-laws and not local conditions.

Is there to be an application for a change to the by-law?

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

I'm not having a go at you by any means. Your question was as follows.

Sheffield council want to make a few changes and one of them is to make having a taxi firm radio a requirement of the licence. Is this legal?

You asked if it was legal? I merely pointed you in the direction of the legal advice currently available free of charge from solicitor Keith Jeffries. I'm sure those who don't already know the answer including yourself would benefit from such legal advice. Why don't you ask him then you can advise your colleagues on the legal position and perhpas we can then debate that legal advice. Or perhaps the advice is not free and you have to pay for it, regardless of it being right or wrong?

Mr GA advises you that Hackney carriages are Governed by "bye-laws" and not local conditions. I suppose that advice proves why Mr GA is a mere cab driver in Gateshead and Mr Jeffries is a Solicitor in Swansea.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

So can a local authority attach a condition to a HC licence?

I don't think so.

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

Taxi drivers are not generally trusted by councils, I would see this as an attempt to monitor where drivers are within the City. So if anything goes wrong they can pinpoint where they were.

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if you cannot be yourself, then who can you be.

I still think this would be illegal.

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Your half right;

The proprietors / vehicle license is governed by conditions.

The drivers license by byelaws

CC

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

The conditions still need to be "reasonable"

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True, cant see this one being too popular for those journeyman drivers out there

CC

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