Cross-border hiring comes under scrutiny yet again as the Deregulation Act gets slammed

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Leicester City Council have become the latestin an ever-growing number of licensing authorities to be critical of the deregulation act 2015, which allows private hire drivers to undertake cross-border hirings.

Irate cabbies in Leicester have called on their licensing auhority to do more to stop drivers who are licensed in other areas picking up fares.

The drivers are arguing that more lenient rules or lower regulatory standards in other areas mean that drivers are registering with other local authorities, thus circumventing Leicester City Councils regulations, and then working in the city centre.

This is a criticism that has been voiced by many regulatory bodies up and down the country.

However, the various authorities which license both thebtaxi and private hire industry claim that their hands are tied by the Deregulation Act 2015, which is widely regarded as seriously flawed and not fit for purpose.

It has been alleged, according to The Leicester Mercury that drivers are coming in from areas such as Wolverhampton, attempting to join companies in Leicester, despite having a license to operate in Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton, along with licensing areas such as Rossendale, have come under fire from other licensing authorities because of the percieved ease at which licences are issued in these areas, as well as the number of licenses processed, which has exploded over the last few years.

Another criticism made is that whilst Leicester City Council criteria dictates that cars can be no older than five years old when they are registered., Wolverhampton cars which are being registered for the first time can be up to twelve-years-old, which again circumvents Leicester City Councils licensing regime.

Leicester's cabbies have now expressed concerns over safety and also ther ability to earn an income as their city streets get flooded with vehicles from other licensing areas.

It is also alleged that although Leicester City councils enforcement team are able to observe what is happening they are powerless to act as they have no jurisdiction over driver's or vehicles registered outside of the licensing area.

It is believed that Leicester City Council are now supporting Transport for London's campaign for a change in legislation.

January 01, 2019 at 05:25PM http://bit.ly/2UVulRY Steve Kenton THESE POSTS ARE NOT OUR ENDORSEMENT