Parliamentary group wants Mayors to have the power to curb private hire vehicles

In its report published this week, the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Taxis calls on the Government to give the Mayor of London, and other Mayors, the power to cap the number of private hire vehicles (PHVs) on London’s streets, stop cross border hiring and set out a robust set of minimum licensing standards for taxis and PHVs across the country.
July 14, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

In its report published this week, the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Taxis calls on the Government to give the Mayor of London, and other Mayors, the power to cap the number of private hire vehicles (PHVs) on London’s streets, stop cross border hiring and set out a robust set of minimum licensing standards for taxis and PHVs across the country.

GMB, the union for private hire and taxi drivers, welcomed the report, saying a cap would improve the quality of life for drivers and hopefully reduce the hours that drivers are forced to work.

It claims that without a cap the industry could well see further exploitation of drivers by companies such as Uber and Addison Lee who attempt to deny their drivers any worker or employment rights in order to maximise profit and avoid their obligations to contribute to the public purse.

Tony Warr, head of Legal, GMB London Region, said, “Private hire drivers already work in very precarious conditions and while overall we welcome the report it was disappointing to note operators licensing will not be conditional on drivers receiving even the basic of employment rights."

The report also calls for the creation of a statutory definition of cross border hiring whereby a journey must “begin or end in the licensing authority where the licence was issued”, as well as consultation on statutory guidance for taxi and PHV licensing and a robust set of minimum licensing standards for all licensing authorities.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Boost efforts to develop intermodal ticketing, say Transport MEPs
    May 29, 2015
    Transport services providers and providers of journey planners should build on existing synergies and cooperate more closely on providing multimodal, cross-border journey planners, European Commission transport MEPs said. They are calling on the Commission to take the measures necessary to support and facilitate the efforts being made on development of intermodal ticketing.
    Read More
  • Informal transport moves emerging megacities
    August 11, 2020
    If you want to get to work in emerging markets, the chances are you may not be using traditional public transit lines. Devin de Vries of WhereIsMyTransport makes the case for informal networks
    Read More
  • Plastic is fantastic for payment platform interoperability
    April 2, 2014
    The Sino Visitor Pass aims to promote trade between Singapore and China by making travel easier, as Jon Masters finds out. Singapore has notched up another first in transportation innovation with announcement of a dual-currency payment card in partnership with the province of Guangdong in China. From the middle of 2014, visitors to Singapore and Guangdong will be able to use a ‘Sino Visitor Pass’ to pay for use of public transportation among other things.
    Read More
  • Plastic is fantastic for payment platform interoperability
    April 2, 2014
    The Sino Visitor Pass aims to promote trade between Singapore and China by making travel easier, as Jon Masters finds out. Singapore has notched up another first in transportation innovation with announcement of a dual-currency payment card in partnership with the province of Guangdong in China. From the middle of 2014, visitors to Singapore and Guangdong will be able to use a ‘Sino Visitor Pass’ to pay for use of public transportation among other things.
    Read More

Highlighted Content