I've read on several occasions that the Act of Parliament has a
specific clause or sub-clause expressly stating that meters are
not allowed in London private hire vehicles.

I've never read through the Act line by line so I can be only
99% certain.

In article ,
(JNugent) wrote:

On 19/10/2015 10:26, wrote:

(JNugent) wrote:

Only vehicles of a type (ie, make/model) approved by the Public
Carriage office may be licensed as taxis in London.
That rather limits the range of different vehicles which may be
"chosen" by London taxi-proprietors.
Essentially, the choice is between the Carbodies (LTI) taxi, the
Mercedes model referred to above and a similar Peugeot. The PCO
relaxed the rules about the required 24' turning circle (between
kerbs) in order to allow the Merc and the Peugeot to be licensed.
They would not have passed that test.

I thought the Vito had to be a specially modified model with rear wheel
steering in order to pass the test? Or have they since got rid of the
requirement?

There is a London cab driver (with a LTI TX model) living a few doors
away from me. I rely upon him for the information that the 24' (some
say 25') turning circle requirement has been relaxed (to 28').

That is confirmed (to the extent that anything ever is) at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditions_of_Fitness

Standards just aren't what they used to be! There were rear wheel steering
Vitos in service, though. Some drivers must be kicking themselves!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Robin9 wrote:

;151218 Wrote:
In article ,
(Robin9) wrote:
--
;151187']On 17/10/2015 10:02, Robin9 wrote:-

;151173 Wrote:-
In article ,
(JNugent) wrote:
-
On 16/10/2015 23:05, wrote:-
In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:
-
In message , at 11:41:37
on Fri, 16 Oct 2015, Paul Corfield remarked:

Haven't you been introduced to Mr R Perry, Honourable Member for all
things Nottingham, Ely and Cambridgeshire? :-))))

I can do urban transport in some detail in Geneva and Amsterdam too
(as well as London of course).

Never taken a private hire in Ely, so I have no idea if they have
meters or not. The cars in the rank at the station are [East Cambs]
Hackneys.-

I should bloody well hope that any car on a rank is a licensed
hackney carriage as only they may ply for hire legally.

The answer to your earlier question is that some other major cities,
Birmingham to my personal knowledge and as also mentioned in a news
report today, Manchester and Sheffield, share with London the
inexplicable (to me) Luddite rule that bans meters in hire cars.
What

possible justification can there be for this?-

Eliminating any excuse for mistaking a pirate car for a taxi, of
course.-

That is addressed by marking rules on vehicles, both hackneys and
hire
cars. The position should be clear enough. They aren't unmarked like
Addison Lee cars in London are.-

Addison Lee vehicles are cleared marked on the back with the
company logo. However, any mentally competent person can tell
the difference between a London Hackney Cab and a minicab. The
idea that a meter - inside the vehicle, remember - is necessary to
enable people to differentiate is absurd.-

Not everyone using transport in London comes from London.

Not everyone using transport in London comes from a town or city
where the proper purpose-built taxi can be found and purpose-built
taxis are
fitted with a taximeter and a sign on the roof in order to
distinguish them from any other car on the road.


into believing that a London pirate car is somehow a "taxi".

There are even some people who will deny that obvious truth.-

It may be the case that a small minority of people travelling in
London are unfamiliar with the iconic London Taxi and also don't
know that licensed minicabs have a yellow sticker on both front
and rear windscreens. However such people are extremely unlikely
to be sufficiently knowledgeable and sufficiently eagle-eyed to
notice the meter and make a decision accordingly.

I don't know why Tony Blair's government decreed that minicabs
in London were not allowed to have a meter in the car - probably
the usual blend of ignorance, incomprehension and prejudice - but
I can't believe it was to help people differentiate between taxis and
-

Was that decided in legislation or by the Mayor? In the rest of the
country
which has had hire car legislation since 1976 it's up to the licensing
authority which is the local council in all cases, even where there is
an
executive Mayor.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

I've read on several occasions that the Act of Parliament has a
specific clause or sub-clause expressly stating that meters are
not allowed in London private hire vehicles.

I've never read through the Act line by line so I can be only
99% certain.

I wonder why? I don't see what that has to do with being a genuine private
hire vehicle.

I use my trusty local minicab firm (ie, not Uber) to get to Heathrow from
time to time (properly booked in advance). The fare always varies by a few
pounds, and once, when it was a bit higher than the usual range, I
commented on it. The driver pointed at his mobile phone, which had
calculated it based on the longer than usual time the journey had taken.
So the minicab firm had obviously supplied an app that calculated the fare
based on time and distance (the destination is always pre-programmed into
the app). I don't see what's wrong with that.

In message
-septe
mber.org, at 04:42:22 on Tue, 20 Oct 2015, Recliner
remarked:
I use my trusty local minicab firm (ie, not Uber) to get to Heathrow from
time to time (properly booked in advance). The fare always varies by a few
pounds, and once, when it was a bit higher than the usual range, I
commented on it. The driver pointed at his mobile phone, which had
calculated it based on the longer than usual time the journey had taken.
So the minicab firm had obviously supplied an app that calculated the fare
based on time and distance (the destination is always pre-programmed into
the app).

I don't think I've ever taken a local minicab to/from an airport other
than on a fixed fare (quoted in advance) basis.

I don't see what's wrong with that.

As long as you are told in advance what the charging process is.
--
Roland Perry