TaxiCall - Licensing

TaxiCall Approved for Use by Licensed Hackney Carriage Drivers

The question is frequently asked: Is any licence required for a TaxiCall service other than a Hackney Carriage driver's licence? The answer, according to Licensing Officers in several Licensing Districts, and a recent High Court judgement, is 'No'.

The question was first considered by the Taxi Licensing Office at Harrogate Borough Council when the Harrogate Hackney Carriage Association set up their TaxiCall service. The Licensing Officer and the Council Solicitor decided that the High Court judgement applied, and so raised no objection to the introduction of TaxiCall in Harrogate. Since then, licensing officers in other areas have also examined the matter, and to our knowledge none have raised objections to licensed hackney carriage drivers operating TaxiCall services.

The High Court Case

The case was Brentwood Borough Council vs Andrew Ernest Gladen, heard in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court in October 2004.

Andrew Gladen operated a telephone booking service for taxis on a central telephone number, and sent out licensed hackney carriages to pick up customers. Brentwood Borough Council said that he should have a private hire operator's licence for such a service.

But the judges decided that such a service, provided by licensed hackney carriage drivers in response to telephone bookings, does not fall under Section 55 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, and hence an operator's licence is not required.

The full text of the judgement runs to several thousand words, so we will not include it here. It is available in several places for those who may be interested in the detail, for example on the National Taxi Association web site at http://www.national-taxi-association.co.uk on the Judgements page.

Implications for TaxiCall

The judgement has established in principle, and licensing officers across the country are agreeing in practice, that licensed hackney carriage drivers may take bookings through a central telephone number.

So it is clear that licensed hackney carriage drivers can operate a TaxiCall service with no additional licence required.

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