To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to review the legality of Cross Border Hiring
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to review the legality of Cross Border Hiring
The Issue
The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (the Act) was introduced as legislation to correct the mischief caused by unregulated minicabs picking up members of the public with no enforcement of the driver or vehicle to ensure public safety.
Technology has been allowed to undermine the intention of the Act by illegally dispatching bookings to PHV`s while they are sat waiting in a controlled district other than the one that issued the vehicle and driver licenses, the argument used to support this action has been known as `the right to roam` but has never been tested in court due to the costs of such a case between a licensing authority that cannot make a profit from license fee`s and the corporate cash rich licensed operators that abuse the system.
The `right to roam` is written into the Act as section 75(2) and by reading Hansard this was to allow a vehicle to enter into another controlled district without the need of a license from that district, hence why this section includes the words `while being driven or used as a private hire vehicle`, it does not say that a vehicle can sit and wait.
Indeed, this very action is covered by the previous section of 75(1)(a) that states that a vehicle may drop a passenger or goods off in a controlled district provided that the vehicle is not made available.
The amendments made to the Act by the Deregualtion Act 2015, did not amend section 75 of the Act, only the sub contracting of a booking between operators.
By allowing vehicles licensed by another authority to work unenforced in a different controlled district it cancels out the number one priority of the Act, which is that of public safety, when the local license enforcement officers cannot check that the driver is licensed and therefore insured or that the vehicle is road worthy at that time.
On this basis, we ask the Secretary of State for Transport to clarify a point of law, that is that a vehicle must be within its own controlled district when it is offered a booking from its associated licensed operator.
1,518
The Issue
The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (the Act) was introduced as legislation to correct the mischief caused by unregulated minicabs picking up members of the public with no enforcement of the driver or vehicle to ensure public safety.
Technology has been allowed to undermine the intention of the Act by illegally dispatching bookings to PHV`s while they are sat waiting in a controlled district other than the one that issued the vehicle and driver licenses, the argument used to support this action has been known as `the right to roam` but has never been tested in court due to the costs of such a case between a licensing authority that cannot make a profit from license fee`s and the corporate cash rich licensed operators that abuse the system.
The `right to roam` is written into the Act as section 75(2) and by reading Hansard this was to allow a vehicle to enter into another controlled district without the need of a license from that district, hence why this section includes the words `while being driven or used as a private hire vehicle`, it does not say that a vehicle can sit and wait.
Indeed, this very action is covered by the previous section of 75(1)(a) that states that a vehicle may drop a passenger or goods off in a controlled district provided that the vehicle is not made available.
The amendments made to the Act by the Deregualtion Act 2015, did not amend section 75 of the Act, only the sub contracting of a booking between operators.
By allowing vehicles licensed by another authority to work unenforced in a different controlled district it cancels out the number one priority of the Act, which is that of public safety, when the local license enforcement officers cannot check that the driver is licensed and therefore insured or that the vehicle is road worthy at that time.
On this basis, we ask the Secretary of State for Transport to clarify a point of law, that is that a vehicle must be within its own controlled district when it is offered a booking from its associated licensed operator.
1,518
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Petition created on 22 August 2024