HBC and Police crack down on taxis plying for trade

Accrington Neighbourhood Policing Team recently worked with Hyndburn Borough Council to tackle the problem of private hire vehicles breaching ‘taxi’ regulations and driving vehicles unfit to be on the road.

Hyndburn Borough Council received a number of complaints from local Hackney carriage operators that private hire vehicle drivers were illegally touting for business i.e. plying for hire, at the side of the road or picking up fares when flagged down by members of the public. The Council met with local police to organise an operation to deal with the issue.

This operation was carried out on Friday 15th November, with Council Officers and Special Constables, resulting in a number of private hire drivers being reported for breaching ‘taxi’ regulations. Those drivers were also reported for driving without valid insurance.

PC Graham Hartley, the Community Beat Manager for Accrington Town Centre, said; “The message is clear; unless you have pre-booked the journey or are taking a taxi from a designated taxi rank, do not get in a mini-cab at the side of the road or try to flag one down. The taxi will not be insured, and so, if you do get into an accident, you won’t be able to claim."

Cllr Chris Fisher, chair of hackney and private hire licensing, said "I'm really proud of my licensing team, the police and not least the actors who took part. I observed the operation and everything went perfectly and was hugely successful. At this time we can't go into details because there are prosecutions pending, more will be released in due course.

The shock and awe operations we currently plan and undertake are zero tolerance and hard hitting to rogue private hire drivers to stamp out this illegal and dangerous practice. There is no doubt operators and drivers now know we mean business. Be assured public safety will always be our number one priority. We have many more operations like this planned in the very near future so rogue taxi drivers beware."