Eighteen months ago, the Government announced a change to legislation designed to protect the travelling public, many of whom were obliged to hire a limo from an unlicensed limousine operators because of a reluctance by the local authorities to allow limos to be licensed for private hire. Therefore, from the beginning of this year, all limousine operators were obliged to licence their vehicles for private hire. Outside of London, this would be with their local authority and inside London with the Public Carriage Office (PCO). Alternatively, they could register for a special ‘bus operators’ licence provided by the traffic commissioners on behalf of VOSA, the Government agency.
Limousine operators were placed on notice 18 months ago and the legislation came into force at the beginning of 2008. Why then, you may ask, are there only 23 limousines in London that have been licensed by the Public Carriage Office, when on an average Saturday night you can see hundred’s of limos around London? Well it is actually worse than that. Rumours are abound that some limo operators that had previously been registered with the PCO, have actually cancelled. So, we have hundreds of limos travelling around London, countless limousine operators claiming to be based in London (many are not, they just claim to be, especially the ‘brokers’) and just 23 licensed. What a pathetic state of affairs.
The situation is not helped by the fact that Government ministers tweaked the legislation rather than spending the time to address the real issues by adding a specific part aimed at limousine operators, which is long overdue. But the bottom line, is the PCO and other local authorities cannot force operators to licence their vehicles, their business or their chauffeurs. The PCO can police the situation, but that requires resource and the reality is most operators are unlikely to be stopped. Result, very few operators have licensed their limos with the PCO. This appalling situation is not helped by the fact that VOSA do not follow their own published guidelines, which clearly states that where a limo operator intends to operate limos for up to 8 passengers and there is a local authourity licensing scheme in place (such as London) then operators should register for private hire rather than as a bus operator with VOSA. Why does this matter, well private hire is manager locally, not regionally and it does not require that individual fares be charged? Local authorities should be able to look at who is advertising limousines in their area and then check to make sure that they are licensed. But, this process is made more complicated, because the limo operator could have a regional licence issued by VOSA. Why on earth does VOSA have to get involved in an area where there is clearly a local authority private hire licensing regime in place? There is simply no logic, even their own published guidelines sat that they will not licence for up to 8 seats if their is a local authority priavet hire licensing regime, but apparantly these guidelines don’t have to be followed by VOSA, so who where they published for?
In the middle of this mess, created by the Government’s failure to address the legislation properly, VOSA’s inability to follow their own guidelines and a lack of resource available to local authorities for policing is…. the travelling public! Placed at risk, because unlicensed operators are not regulated, their vehicles are not subjected to regular stringent tests, as required for all vehicles that have fare paying passengers and worst of all, unlicensed limo operators do not have to licence their drivers for private hire. This means that there is no need for chauffeurs to undertake a strict medical and no need for a Criminal Records Bureau check. Of course that doesn’t mean that your chauffeur hasn’t been checked, but there is no obligation on the limo operator to do so and lets face it, if the operator can’t be bothered to licence his limos, why should he case about his drivers?
You can’t really blame the PCO or your local authority, but you can expect the Police to shoulder some of the blame, they could do more with VOSA, undertake more spot checks and prosecute more offenders. VOSA should follow their own published guidelines, but they appear to set their own agenda’s, with little ministerial oversight on matters related to limousines. Above all, ministers and their advisors have ultimate responsibility for your safety and they have failed to deliver. They tweaked with legislation rather than addressing the real issues and now their initiative has had the opposite affect, now they appear to be shrugging their shoulders and doing nothing. Here is a Government that legislates for anything and everything, but when it comes to a major public safety issue, they are doing nothing.
You can vote with you feet of course and refuse to get into an unlicensed limo, however, if there are only 23 licensed limos in the capital, you would probably end up having to take a bus. So instead, people are getting into unlicensed limousines, with potentially the same risks as would be evident if they were to get into an unlicensed minicab. This is an appalling state of affairs, that the public should be placed at risk, because of inaction by the authorities that are obliged to protect and serve the public.
