• Business Link in the East of England
• Peterborough Chamber of Commerce
• Opportunity Peterborough
• Envirocluster
• Peterborough Regional Economic Partnership

Enforcement

Peterborough City Council Taxi Licensing Officers target a minimum of 60 stop and checks per week.  They also carry out late night inspections to ensure compliance with licence conditions.

Licensing Enforcement Officers will report :

Private Hire Drivers who:-
Illegally ply for hire. (This will also invalidate the insurance)
Stand, wait or pull onto Hackney Carriage ranks.
Fail to wear their badge.
Have their two-way radio loose in the foot-well of their vehicle.
Drive without insurance.

Hackney Carriage Drivers who:-
Drive their cabs with their meters unsealed.
Drive uninsured.
Allow their vehicles to be driven by unlicensed drivers.

Private Hire or Hackney Carriage Drivers who:-
Obstruct authorised officers or police officers.
Fail to comply with a request from such an officer.
Use false addresses.
Fail to report accidents to the licensing section.
Fail to report their change of address, or the transfer of their plates.

These offences carry maximum fines of between £400 and £5000 and in some instances will also include a minimum of 6 - 8 points on your licence.

Those drivers continually caught breaking the law or behaving in an unacceptable way will be reported to the Licensing Sub Committee who may suspend or revoke the drivers licence.

Rules of Evidence.
The Licensing Enforcement team are like any other authorised enforcement agency and must comply with all rules of evidence and home office guidelines to ensure consistency and fairness. In any case presented before a magistrate or crown court the prosecution must prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the offence charged was committed by the defendant. This means that in all cases the Council's officers must ensure that they have followed up all reasonable lines of enquiry and that the matter has been processed efficiently and within strict guidelines and time limits.

Legislation which guides officers in their activities includes:-
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act.
The Human Rights Act.
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (1976).
Town Police Clauses Act (1847).
Regulatory Investigations Procedures Act.

In order to ensure a reasonable chance of success the legislation must be used and adhered to.