Cross border taxi veteran campaigner urges MPs and Councillors to think carefully about solution to nationwide problem
- Perry Richardson
- 51 minutes ago
- 5 min read
A veteran taxi industry campaigner on the topic of out-of-area working has urged MPs and councillors from across the country to push for urgent action on cross-border private hire operations, warning the current system is undermining public safety and local authority control.
In an email sent this week, Lee Ward set out concerns raised by the recent 'National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse'. That report, led by Baroness Casey, highlighted serious problems local councils face in controlling taxis and private hire vehicles operating in areas where they are not licensed.
Ward criticised the Government’s response so far, which centres on the proposed Devolution Bill. He described the approach as too slow for what he sees as an immediate problem affecting towns and cities across England and Wales. According to Ward, the Bill would not address issues that have already left local licensing teams unable to enforce standards properly.
At the heart of the problem lies the Deregulation Act 2015. Ward explained how the Act allowed licensed operators to subcontract bookings to other licensed operators in different districts. In practice, this has led to vehicles spending most, or all, of their time working in areas where they are not licensed, and where local enforcement officers have no power over them.
Ward believes the solution is straightforward. He wants the Government to pass regulations — or at the very least issue mandatory guidance — forcing operators to only dispatch bookings to vehicles licensed by the same authority, and only while those vehicles are physically in the licensing district.
Modern dispatch systems, he argues, can easily manage this using geo-fencing technology to ensure vehicles return to base between jobs outside the area. This would not prevent out-of-area drop-offs or airport runs, but would place responsibility on operators to make sure vehicles are dispatched from within their home district.
Ward said the approach would cost nothing, could be implemented quickly, and would restore local control over licensing and enforcement. He argued that localism had worked well for decades, allowing councils to set vehicle and driver standards suited to their communities.
In his message, Ward also warned of the risks of attempting to impose national standards. He said areas with higher standards could see objections to lowering them, while those with lower standards would resist measures that increase costs for local drivers and firms.
He also pointed out that limiting cross-border work would reduce oversaturation in local markets. This, he claims, would support public transport policy by encouraging more people to use bus services when taxi waiting times or fares rise slightly due to fewer out-of-area drivers operating locally.
Ward has offered to discuss the matter further with MPs and councillors backing reform. He said he is ready to answer questions and share his experience to ensure public safety and proper enforcement return to local taxi and private hire sectors.
Ward wrote: “I write to share my experience and support in your call for what is known as Cross Border Hiring (CBH) to end in the interests of public safety.
“As you are aware, the recently released “National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” by Baroness Casey highlighted the issues that local authorities face in controlling Taxi & Private Hire Vehicles (TPH) working within their controlled district.
“While the above report was responded to by Government on the 20th of June 2025, it was with surprise that the interim action to be taken is the Devolution Bill which as you are aware is a slow process for such an important legislative change that will not deal with this immediate issue as quickly as many like yourself would be happy to accept.
“The further goal of applying a national standard is also a difficult route ahead because of the varied requirement across England and Wales and we do not know if London or Plymouth who are under a separate legislation would also be included.
“Should standards be set higher for one authority on vehicles or drivers, then their MPs would be lobbied to object because of the cost factor that would damage their constituents livelihoods, and on the opposite side of the scale would be objections raised by authorities who have higher standards than the national standards would be based on that would in turn put the trade back to square one.
“What has worked for many years is localism, where each authority decides the best and most suitable requirements for their area’s vehicle and driver requirements respectively.
“What broke this perfectly working system was the confusion over the introduction of the Deregulation Act in 2015 where it was taken that licensed operators may subcontract bookings to operators licensed in other areas, then those subcontracted vehicles could work predominantly or exclusively within another controlled district with zero enforcement from those authorities licensing officers.
“I have the knowledge of how licensed operators work from owning my own business and then managing a very large company with over 2,000 drivers, to coin a phrase, I am the poacher turned gamekeeper.
“The solution that could be implemented through Negative Procedure of Statutory Instrument, or at the least mandatory guidance, would be the following.
“Operators that are licensed under the Plymouth City Council Act 1975, the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 must only dispatch a booking to a vehicle licensed by the same authority when that vehicle is within the controlled district that issued the license.
“This does not prevent the vehicles right to roam because the booking can pick up and/or drop off anywhere in the country and it does not remove the publics choice of service provider also, especially relevant on the borders of each authority in England and Wales.
“It does not prevent airport return journeys, these would be dispatched to the vehicle before it left the controlled district and should the member of the public not have prebooked and didn’t wish to wit for a vehicle to travel, then the Deregulation Act 2015 comes into play and the operator subcontracts that request to a trusted partner that is more local to the airport.
“What it does do is put the legal obligation on operators to ensure that they only dispatch bookings to their associated vehicles while they are within area and forcing the vehicle to return to that controlled district should the booking take them to another district which in turn makes enforcement of local vehicles much more effective for the authorities.
“Modern dispatch systems can easily and quickly be adjusted to work within this requirement by geo-fencing the area in which they hold an operator’s license.
“This is such a simple answer to all the issues that it may have been overlooked as often these solutions can be, but it is a solution that is quick, effective and costs not a penny to anyone.
“Additionally, this simple change would remove saturation of the local market, making the bus service a better option for the public to choose should waiting times or fares increase which is what government are also aiming to achieve with investment in local transport.”
