Petition Tag - private hire

The Law Commission is currently reviewing the laws on taxi and private hire licencing.

Under the proposals wedding (and funeral) cars would no longer be exempted and forced to register as a private hire vehicle.

Classic and vintage wedding cars are often supplied by small companies and individuals who do a few weddings each year to earn enough money to keep their cars on the road.

Private hire vehicles (the ones you call when you want a lift home) can work 7 days a week 365 days a year thereby justifying the high costs involved in purchasing a private hire licence, annual testing, operator’s licence, CRB, DSA test and drivers medicals. The cost of a private hire licence would be prohibitive and many classic car owners would no longer be able to offer their cars to brides.

If you do not object to wedding cars becoming private hire cars, by next year you may well find that there are virtually no classic or vintage cars available for weddings and those that are operating will be very expensive.

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We are concerned by the fact that women are vulnerable to attack when getting into vehicles masquerading as taxis, or private hire cars.

In many of our towns and cities, private hire cars or taxis have only small plates on the rear to identify them. These are relatively easy to fake, especially in the dark.

We believe that all taxis and private hire cars should have a permanent sign attached to their roof. This makes them easily and readily identifiable as a tax, even if it is late at night and alcohol has been consumed by the potential passenger.

This is a time when women are most vulnerable and believe that a taxi is safe. Making legitimate taxis very clearly identifiable will help keep women safe.

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