Council wins crown court taxi appeal

Shropshire Council has won a court case which upholds a decision taken in the interests of public safety to refuse to grant a taxi licence, because the vehicle would not be used mostly in the county. 

A judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court has backed the decision of the council’s Licensing and Safety Sub-Committee to refuse to grant a hackney carriage vehicle licence to Mr Kaiser Latif from Birmingham. 

The committee refused the licence on the grounds they could not be satisfied that the vehicle would be plying for hire to a material extent within the Bridgnorth zone for which he had applied. 

On Friday 24 February Latif lost his crown court appeal against the decision and was ordered to pay costs of £300. 

The judge, sitting with lay magistrates, found in favour of the council, taking into account all the information that was considered by the committee as well as the council’s newly agreed out-of-area taxi policy. 

The council has a duty to ensure that it licenses drivers in line with High Court guidance, which includes the requirement that hackney carriages mostly operate in the council area, in the interests of public safety.  If drivers from outside the county are not operating as agreed, this undermines these safeguards and means they cannot be effectively monitored to ensure the vehicles are safe. 

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet agreed the ‘Intended Use Policy for the Licensing of Hackney Carriages’ policy on 8 February 2012.  This came after a significant increase in demand for taxi licences in Shropshire, with the majority of hackney carriage applicants based outside the county.  The policy sets out a clear position and procedure under which decisions will be made on hackney carriage applications where the intention is not to work mostly within the Shropshire Council area.  

An enforcement campaign is also being carried out to ensure that, where licences are granted, the drivers are working mostly within the relevant Shropshire zone.  The enforcement work includes checking records to confirm where the vehicles are working, out of hours monitoring exercises which can ultimately lead to licences being revoked if necessary, and sharing information with other councils.  

Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for licensing, said:

“This is a great result.  It shows that our policy and decision making is robust and is taken in the best interests of the public. 

“Shropshire has sent a clear message to applicants or drivers who have been issued with licences to operate in the county, that if they have no intention to work here or they are unable to provide evidence that they are working predominantly in Shropshire, this practice in unacceptable and we will challenge it.  We are pleased that the courts have supported our approach in this case and are confident about our approach in dealing with this practice.” 

Councillor Peter Adams, chair of the licensing committee, added:

“It is important in protecting the safety of the public that we thoroughly process and issue licences, which includes consideration of the licensing of out-of-area hackney carriage vehicles. 

“At the same time, we are carrying out work to enforce licensing conditions and have reviewed the drivers knowledge test to require a more thorough knowledge of the area in which drivers operate, to help ensure that passengers get a fair deal and reach their destination safely.” 

Hackney carriage vehicles do not have to be pre-booked and can be hailed on the street. Private hire vehicles must be pre-booked, and customers should be quoted the exact fare when the booking is made.