A private prosecutor appealed dismissal of his complaint that the respondent had operated an unlicensed man-powered rickshaw service. The district judge had held that it was not a taxi service. It was, under the 1869 Act a stage carriage and therefore not requiring a licence under section 7.
Held: It was not possible to argue that the statute made a disrtinction between stage carriages and private hire vehicles according to whether they took up and set down passengers on a route. Regulations which might have made such a distinction had never been made. The defendant could only properly be said to have solicited fares required some form of invitation to a prospective hirer. That evidence was absent, and the appeal failed.
Citations:
[2003] EWHC 2865 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 164, Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 7
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Cambridge City Council, Ex Parte Lane CA 3-Sep-1998
A trishaw was properly a form of hackney carriage, not a ‘stage coach,’ and the Local Authority was able to impose conditions upon the licensing of a service, including limiting the number of passengers and so as to ensure safety. A trishaw was a . .
Cited – Behrendt v Burridge QBD 1975
The defendant, a prostitute wearing revealing clothing sat silent and motionless behind a bay window, illuminated by a red light, to advertise her services as a prostitute.
Held: She was soliciting, in the sense of tempting or alluring . .
Cited – Burge v Director of Public Prosecutions 1962
. .
Cited – Weitz and Another v Monaghan 2-Feb-1962
It was the prostitute who was guilty of soliciting by his or her physical presence. It was not enough for a written advertisement to be placed by him or her, or on their behalf, in a public place . A prostitute who displays an advertisement in a . .
Cited – Sales v Lake 1922
A hackney carriage may be plying for hire siomply by waiting in the street available to take passengers. . .
Cited – Cogley v Sherwood 1959
It is the exhibition of the vehicle for hire through the agency of the driver which is the essence of the offence of plying for hire, unlicensed. . .
Cited – Darroch v The Director of Public Prosecution CACD 1990
The appellant was charged with persistently soliciting a woman for the purposes of prostitution under section 2(1). He had been seen on several occasions driving his car slowly around a red light district. On one occasion he beckoned a woman towards . .
Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wooding 1994
. .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Denham and Another 1991
‘Improper’ within the regulation does not mean morally reprehensible but improper in the sense of an act or omission which would not have occurred if the party concerned had conducted his case properly. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Licensing, Road Traffic
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.189133
