In message , at 14:42:08 on Wed, 18
Jun 2014, JNugent remarked:
I don't think the same vehicle can be licensed as both a hackney
carriage and hire car.

What need would there be for it?

so they can "pick up" from a rank at the new science park station

Why would the vehicle need to be licensed for private hire for that?

It doesn't, but it needs a hackney licence for the station area
(currently SC).

Hackney carriages can lawfully be used hirings, whether within their
licensed area or outside it.

There are no circumstances in which a taxi being additionally licensed
for (so-called) private hire conveys advantage to anyone.

Agreed. (Assuming of course that a hackney licence allows you to pick up
outside your area, without a private hire licence for that area).

You seem to have missed the problem here.
Because (it appears that) there are currently no ranks in South Cambs
and nowhere that driving around looking for a hire is worthwhile, there
are no licensed hackney cabs in SC. They all content themselves with
operating as mini cabs offering their pre-booked (5 minutes before by
phone) service both in SC and Cambridge City.

I can see that that is a problem *if true* - but a whole district
without a single taxi-rank - not even outside a railway station - seems
unlikely.

South Cambs is a collection of what we call "necklace villages" and
their stations. I'm quite prepared to believe none [village High Streets
or stations] are big enough to warrant a taxi.

The problem should be addressed by the district council appointing some
taxi-ranks.

I think you mean Hackney Licences. They can. but currently there doesn't
appear to be any demand from the potential drivers.

But Roland (and others), not unreasonably, think that there will be
business customers arriving at the new SP station thinking that the
20-25 minute walk to the company that they are visiting is too far,
expecting to jump in a un-booked cab.

One would think so.

But SC cabs won't be able to pick up there because none of them are
licensed to ply for hire and City cabs won't be able to pick up there
because (by a few 100 yards) the station is in SC.

What (when it's at home) is (the chimera) a "cab not licensed to ply
for hire"?

A minicab. (aka private hire).

If a vehicle isn't licensed to ply for hire, it isn't a cab (or taxi,
or hackney carriage, or any other synonym you prefer).

So does the area which contains this railway station have any cabs
licensed (and "licensed" means "licensed under the Town Police Clauses
Act 1847")?

If the answer is "yes" - then they can ply at the station (if there's a
rank).

It's "yes", but there are only a handful. Not enough even for a rank at
one station.

if the answer is "no", then the council needs to licence some cabs.

No, the drivers need to apply. But isn't it a bit of an imposition for
drivers to have to get themselves licenced so they can pick up from just
one two-hundred yard street in an entire half-a-county?

So people are suggesting solutions to this problem.

Be sure that there is one first. And be sure that the answer ("licence
some cabs under the 1847 Act" isn't quite so obvious.

There are cumbersome solution. We are looking for a simple, common-sense
one. For example, a way to allow the hundreds of City Hackneys to be
able to operate at this new place, which just happens to be a landlocked
island of South Cambs just outside the City (and only accessible by a
road to the City).
--
Roland Perry