A recent court case saw two private hire drivers fined and given points on their licences for picking up passengers who had not pre booked. This prompted The Southern Daily Echo to pose the question: ‘Is it time to simplify taxi regulations?’

The current system in the UK is a two tiered. Drivers of private hire vehicles must apply for a licence and are then only insured to carry customers who have booked in advance. On the other hand Hackney Carriage or taxi drivers, such as members of the Southampton Hackney Association, apply for a licence from their local authority and are able to pick up passengers from the street or a taxi rank.

The article suggests it may be better to scrap the old system and regulate both systems as one, however as a Hackney Association we feel the problems come down to lack of sufficient enforcement. The current system is a good one, it just needs to marshalled properly.

To ensure you are travelling around the city safely make sure when you hail a cab or use a taxi rank, it’s a registered Hackney Carriage taxi. You can easily recognise our white cabs which all have a white sign on the roof and a red Hackney Carriage license plate on the back of the vehicle. By hailing a Hackney Carriage taxi, you know you are insured to travel. Private hire cars or mini cabs can be any colour except white and do not have a taxi sign on the roof.

You can read the full Daily Echo article here: Is it time to simplify taxi regulations?