Hackney carriage and private hire news and information

1. For the information of all hackney drivers

South West Railway have informed us that they are proposing to take back the control supervision and contract arrangements for the station ranks from 1 January 2025 onwards. This would mean the Council would no longer be involved in the contract arrangements with SWR and that you would each have to have your own individual contract with them, as they do in most other areas. SWR will provide further details on costs and how to apply no later than September 2024.

A report will be submitted to the Councils Regulatory Committee on this as soon as possible.

For many years we have been able to benefit from very favourable rates regarding the taxi bays at railway stations in Runnymede. These have been a fraction of the cost drivers in other area have to pay, around £1000. As an example of costs:

• In 2016 the total cost for 10 bays was £3925
• It gradually increased to £5000 in 2020 and there was no increase in 2021,2022 or 2023

South West Railway (SWR) have now reviewed the fees for this year 2024, and they are increasing them, from £5000 to £6600.

The cost of these bays is paid initially by the Council who then recoup the cost via vehicle fees the following year, so you are always paying a year in arrears.

This years fees to you for example were set in November 2023 and come into effect on 1 April 2024, the HC vehicle fee for 2024 reflects the amount charged to each vehicle licence to recover the £5000 the Council paid to SWR for use of the bays in 2023, approx. £106.

Similarly next year in 2025 the vehicle fees will reflect the amount charged to each vehicle licence to recover the £6600 the Council have pay to SWR for use of the bays in 2024, approx. £144.

2. Drivers behaviour

Just a reminder that as a licensed driver you have standards to maintain. Due to recent publicly in various trade magazines about drivers making inappropriate remarks to female passengers. I just want to remind you all this is completely unacceptable and if we obtain evidence of any driver doing this you can expect that drivers licence to be considered for revocation.

3. Department of Transport Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing: best practice guidance

This was recently published on GOV.UK and the content will be considered this year in conjunction with the review of our taxi policy which is due for renewal on 31 March 2025. I expect a consultation on this around September 2024 - October 2024.

• Taxi and private hire vehicle licensing: best practice

4. Operators Contractual Obligations

Although we have not amended our Policy to account for the below this will be considered by the Council this year. It is simply a case of adding a condition on operators licenses.

Following a ruling on 6 December 2021, in the case of Uber London Ltd v Transport for London & others [2021] EWHC 3290 (Admin), the Divisional Court ruled in order to operate lawfully under the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 (the legislation governing private hire in London) a licensed operator who accepts a booking from a passenger is required to enter as principal into a contractual obligation with the passenger to provide the journey which is the subject of the booking.

This case required the operator concerned to change its business model to contract directly with passengers rather than classifying itself as an agent. This has helped confirm driver status as workers with statutory protections and has also had VAT implications. This was predominantly a case relating to workers’ rights, however it has had implications for all London based operators in respect of their operating model. It places the operator under an obligation to enter into a contract with the passenger as principal, where a passenger makes a booking, and affects their responsibilities under that contractual relationship.

Following this case, in order to level the competitive playing field nationally, Uber sought a declaration at the High Court to the one imposed on it for London to cover the rest of England and Wale. The Court agreed with Uber and declared that this does cover the rest of England and Wales.

The obligation applies to all Private Hire Vehicle Operators in England and Wales, regardless of how many vehicles and drivers are available to them, the employment status of their drivers who carry out bookings accepted by them and whether the operator accepts bookings by telephone, in-person, online or via an app.

All Private Hire Operators following the judgement must satisfy themselves that they are complying with the obligation and fulfilling their responsibilities under private hire legislation in relation to the contractual arrangements they have in place with passengers and drivers.  These responsibilities include that:

• a Licensed Private Hire Operator must itself accept bookings from its passengers, rather than anyone else (for example a driver) doing so;
• a Licensed Private Hire Operator must itself take responsibility for the journey from point A to point B, rather than anyone else (for example a driver) doing so;
• the booking must be carried out in a licensed Private Hire Vehicle (licensed by the same Council as where the Operator is licensed) (or taxi) driven by a licensed driver (again licensed by the same authority); known as the ‘triple lock’
• the booking must be carried out for a fare which was either agreed or for which an accurate estimate was provided in advance.

The obligation applies to operators in the same way regardless of how they operate (e.g. if they take bookings via an app or over the telephone) and whether or not they use written contracts with passengers and/or drivers.

An operator can still sub-contract a booking to another licensed operator but the contract with the operator who initially accepted the booking must remains. All operators must comply with the obligation including those without written contracts.

5. Hackney Carriages Private hire and Operators

Pricing

It has come to my attention that some Runnymede operators are not aware of the legalities of pricing when using hackney carriages for private hire work.

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 s67 states;

• No hackney carriage shall be used in the district under a contract or purported contract for private hire except at a rate of fares or charges not greater than that fixed by the byelaws or tables mentioned in section 66 of this Act, and, when any such hackney carriage is so used, the fare or charge shall be calculated from the point in the district at which the hirer commences his journey.
• (2)Any person who knowingly contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence.

This means that any hackney carriage carrying out pre booked work in the borough in which it is licensed should work on the meter. Any quoted work must be the same or less than the metered price of that borough which would be very difficult to establish.

Door signs

Also please note that unless there is an exemption in place all RBC Private Hire vehicles MUST display a Pre Booked Only sign. These must be attached to the front doors of the vehicle while trading and must be on the vehicle for licensing inspection

6. Forums

The latest forum for this year took place at the Hythe Centre Egham on Wednesday 25 October 2023. Updates were given on fares, fees, ranks. My thanks to those who were able to attend.
The next forum will be in 2024, 3 forums will be planned, dates TBN. Forum notes can be seen below-

• Forum notes