A North TynesidePrivate Hire Driver from Whitley Bay has been banned from driving for nine months. The driver continued to carry passengers whilst uninsured for 16 days.
At North Shields Magistrates’ Court he admitted two charges of making private hire journeys whilst uninsured.
North Tyneside Licensing dept. checked the uninsured period against records kept by the private hire firm he worked from and found that for sixteen days he had been working without insurance for his vehicle. Over this sixteen day period he made 226 private hire journeys. He said that the failure to be insured was an ‘oversight’ …..Some oversight! Insurance is a very necessary overhead in our business and one that should never be forgotten.
He was fined £500 and ordered to pay £150 costs and disqualified from driving for nine months. No mention here of the operator being fined as surely the operator is responsible when the cars he despatches are uninsured.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Theres a driver from our office up in court next week for the same thing.sign of the times i think!
The one thing I will say about this matter is for 16 days this vehicle and driver operated 226 private hire journey`s on behalf of somebody elses Section 55 Operator Licence and these facts are not disputed, as North Tyneside Council`s legal team must have produced to the Court a recorded log of these 226 journey`s over 16 days from the Section 55 Operator Licence Proprietors records,that must be kept for 2 years under North Tyneside Councils regulations.
The Section 55 Operator Licence Holder is the only person lawfully licenced to make the provision to operate private hire vehicles and it is therefore that Section 55 Proprietors resposibility to ensure every private hire vehicle and driver complies with the law for who they accepted the 226 contracts for the supply of a private hire vehicle with a driver, yet North Tyneside Council even with the proof of 16 days and 226 hirings being carried out failed to prosecute the the Section 55 Operator Licence Proprietor for breaches in regulations in supplying a private hire vehicle with a driver that was not properly insured, therefore putting the Health and Safety of their passengers at risk!!!!!!
Section 55(1)
Subject to the provisions of this Part of the Act, a district council shall, on reciept of an application from any person for the grant to that person of a licence to operate private hire vehicles grant to that person an operator`s licence.
THEN SECTION 56 APPLY`S TO EVERY SECTION 55 OPERATOR LICENCE PROPRIETOR TO ENSURE EVERY VEHICLE THEY SUPPLY TO BE FULLY REGULATED WITH ALL THE CORRECT INSURANCE POLICIES REQUIRED AND IN A ROAD WORTHY CONDITION WITH THE VEHICLE AND DRIVER PROPERLY COVERED!
Section 56(1)
For the purposes of this Part of this Act every contract for the hire of a private hire vehicle licensed under this Part of the Act shall be deemed to be made with the operator who accepted the booking for that vehicle whether or not he himself provided the vehicle.
North Tyneside Council should hang its head in shame for once again not prosecuting the Section 55 Operator Licence Proprietor for a serious breach of their duties that require the Operator Licence Propritorto keep up to date records for all vehicles and drivers they operate that should be checked week by week before accepting the weekly rent,as there is clearly some sort of currupt system in place that allows the Operator Licence Proprietor to get away scott free when a case like this proves wrong doing and a failure to comply by the Operator Licence Proprietor under Section 56!!!!
Lets see if Rasp-Newton has the balls to push for the Section 55 Operator Licence Proprietor to be prosecuted, but I bet the spineless one will not,as that would be ENFORCEMENT UNDER SECTION 56 of the Local Government(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.
Think there was a kid done at Noda as well by the licencing officers, just heard through the grape vine (don’t know if true) that a asian lad with goatee (looks like asian robert deniro) picked up student from head of steam to world headquarters & charged in the region of £8, the punter must have reported him & licensing went into noda office & checked jobs against when he was busy??? As far as I know he drives a silver newish E7.
I know that we are all here to make a living & everyone flimps when private hire, even I did years ago before becoming a Ncle Hack, but to flimp & then try to do a student out of his money, when they will know the exact fare, let hope he gets ***** & pillaged!!!!!!!!
@dave – hack,
just backs up my theory that these guys rob the public on a more regular basis than some members of the hackney trade.
anyone who trys to tell me that a flimper will charge his office rates, well a line from mr. t springs to mind, ‘i aint no fool!’
cause if he did, he or they, would do it legally from the office they are at.
can i just ask, do ph have to produce a meter certificate when getting there vehicle tested, as when is was ph i didint even have one in, i just went off the trip, and i still dont think ph have to have a meter, in newcastle anyway. but then why are ph allowed to have more than one tarriff on there meter?
my only message to those who flimp like this is, dont cry when you end up in the magistrates, do the crime, do the time.
@Andy Warhol, the reason we (ph)have different tariffs on our meters have you heard of christmas boxing day etc… as for flimping i dont bother if people cant be bothered to book a cab not my problem but then all these hacks do is whinge funny though when i see a black doblo toon hack being hailed and picking up in killy (north tyneside i believe)well it was when i took my test
@wilfy, are you honestly saying that a hack driving through killy and takin a flag is comparable to a PH makin a career out of flimping the Town or the Coast repeatedly on weekends,your clutchin at straws there mate,even a hack wouldn’t give a s**t if anyone flimped a fare outside their area in those circumstances but repeatedly cruising around the Gate hunting for fares is blatant Flimping.
@NTHack, still wrong though rules are rules
@wilfy,
i have three tarriffs on my meter, 1 2 & 3. 6.00 am till 11.00 pm is 1, 11.00 pm till 6.00 am is 2, and 12.00 am till 12.00 pm bank hollidays is tarriff 3.
the difference between my meter and your meter is you can freely flick between whichever tarriff suites you, my meter is automated to the date and time and swithes over itself automaticly.
if we can use the technology in the meter to do this every day in a hack, then why not do so in a private hire!
@Andy Warhol, the reason is we only change the tarriff if its a bus job (more than 4 people) the rest of the time it is only used on public holidays
@Andy Warhol, andy take a look at the stats on this site about newcaslte hack, its shows 1/5 of hack drivers stopped last month had insurance issues! no better then flimmpers!!!!
@dave – hack, Dave i dissagree, ive been a private hire driver for almost 16years and can honestly say ive never flimped so to say that all private hire drivers do is untrue mate.
@dave – hack,Dave have a look on the hall of shame. Dont know if its your asian Robert Deniro? But he does drive a silver E7 & does not give a shit about parking on the Newcastle Hackney ranks.
BLT driver and proud of it, if you are a daytime PH then you probably haven’t flimped, but if you are on nights could you remove your pinocchio nose away from my direction. I don’t believe for one minute that if someone offered you a mint job on a busy sat night, cash up front & not a sniff of enforcement about them, that you would turn it down, “sorry mate gonna wait for a corking £5 fare” I can smell the whiff of bully !!!!!!!!!!!
HACK DRIVER – think you are right about the hall of shame, he’ll probably just get a slap on the wrist.
@wilfy,
and why do you feel the need to charge more for a 5 or 6 seater.
theres loads of 7 seater hack’s and they all charge the same as a saloon car, no matter how many people get in.
why not just use you set office rates for whatever job? after all your still getting more work with your 7 seater.
am actually laughing now, as hacks often get accused of robbing, even though we charge what the council set. yet private hire can exploit the passenger if theres 4 or more and charge them at a higher rate!
who’s robbing who?