If there’s ever another TOP Seminar I want to know why I, and an awful lot of other Taxi Drivers, are having to leave our cabs - with fully fitted partitions - at supermarket depots whilst we deliver shopping to areas outside London, where TfL PH Vehicles are working with impunity, because we cannot earn a living? My routes go out as far as Reading and South Oxfordshire and I regularly see TfL licensed PH vehicles picking up or dropping off with impunity - no wonder the Mayor’s having to write to everyone declaring a Major Incident on Covid when TfL are allowing PH Drivers to work anywhere they want, spreading the virus. How many Compliance Operations have been conducted outside the Capital in the past 12 months? Can TfL make that a request under the FOI Act? How many PH Drivers have been checked for predominantly working outside of their licensed areas in the same period? And then there’s this advice from the DfT which quite clearly contradicts the nonsense we were getting told by Dan Maskell earlier about having to wear masks. Passenger must wear masks unless they say - not prove - they are exempt! And who is going to sit in a car going down the M4 Motorway with the windows open in this weather? TfL should and could have implemented higher standards - including partitions - in PHV’s over the past year. Why haven’t they?

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TfL Ref: 2054-2021

Thank you for your request received by us on 10 January 2021 asking for information about Taxi and Private Hire compliance operations.
 
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm that we hold the information you require. Please note that the following response addresses only those questions which fall within the Freedom of Information Act. Any remaining questions which require an explanation rather than recorded information have been passed to our Taxi and Private Hire team. They can also be contacted via the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/help-and-contact/contact-us-about-taxi-and-private-hire.

You asked:

How many Compliance Operations have been conducted outside the Capital in the past 12 months?”

Due to the on-going Covid 19 epidemic, Transport for London (TfL) Vehicles Operations Officers have reduced the number of deployments conducted outside of London. Additionally, as there has been a dramatic reduction in the volume of airport passengers, the demand for operations has decreased.

The number of Joint Working Operations we deployed and worked on in 2020 were 12 in total, which were all Airport based and split-out as can be seen in Table A in the attached document.

How many PH Drivers have been checked for predominantly working outside of their licensed areas in the same period?

The total number of Private Hire drivers checked outside of London during 2020 was 407. Please also note that Private Hire Vehicle drivers are able to work outside of the areas they are licenced in, providing they meet the triple licensing requirement. A London licensed Private Hire vehicle can drive outside the capital, as long as the booking was made through a London based operator - and the driver and vehicle are both licensed in London

These were split across the three Airport locations worked at in Table B; please see attached.

Again because of Covid-19 restrictions, our safe systems of work as well as the reduced level of intelligence and demand that drive our deployments, the number of compliance checks is lower than usual and not typical. There would normally be more joint working deployments and operations outside London where TfL work with the local Police.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
 

 

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