Two Torbay licensed taxi drivers suspended for REPEATED OVER-RANKING

Two Torbay taxi drivers have each been suspended for one month after repeatedly over-ranking and waiting for fares outside a full taxi rank.

Torbay Council’s Regulatory Sub-Committee imposed the immediate suspensions after considering separate cases involving the Vaughan Road taxi rank. Both drivers had previously received warnings from the licensing authority following earlier incidents in March 2026.

The committee heard that the permanent Vaughan Road rank has space for three hackney carriages. Licensed drivers had received several council communications explaining the rules on over-ranking, illegal parking and compliance with Byelaw 8(b).

In the first case, CCTV evidence showed the driver waiting in contravention of the byelaws during March and on two further occasions on 20 June. The driver had already been issued with a warning before the two June incidents.

The driver admitted the incidents and told councillors that it had been a quiet night, space was limited and moving elsewhere would reduce the opportunity to secure a fare. The driver also claimed that three or four private hire vehicles had been parked on taxi ranks, leaving no room to move onto another rank.

Committee members rejected those circumstances as justification for breaching the rules. They accepted evidence from the licensing officer that alternative ranks had been available and found that the driver’s actions had contributed to a problem generating significant public complaints and taking up considerable officer time.

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The committee concluded that the repeated non-compliance had been knowing and demonstrated a lack of the professionalism expected from a licensed driver. Members decided that another warning would not provide enough assurance that the behaviour would stop, although they considered revocation disproportionate.

In the second case, CCTV showed another driver over-ranking on 8 March and again on 20 June. The driver, who had held a Torbay Council driver’s licence since 2012, had received a warning after the March incident and had also been sent council communications about conditions at Vaughan Road.

That driver argued that the vehicle was positioned in an area which appeared to be private land. However, the driver accepted that they were waiting for a fare. The committee determined that the precise status of the land did not alter the licensing position because the driver was plying for hire while the authorised rank was full.

The driver initially said they had been using a phone and were not parked on the highway, but later accepted that they should have moved to another rank and apologised. They also told the committee that they had been following other drivers and had not intended to breach the byelaws.

Photographs showing vehicles other than hackney carriages occupying taxi ranks were presented at the hearing. The committee said those allegations were outside the scope of the individual licence review and should instead be sent to Torbay Council’s licensing department for investigation.

Members accepted that there were wider operational concerns surrounding the Vaughan Road rank. However, they found that those problems did not permit licensed drivers to wait outside a full rank or disregard previous warnings.

Both one-month suspensions took immediate effect under Section 61 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. The committee took no action against the drivers’ hackney carriage vehicle proprietor licences because the cases concerned their conduct as drivers rather than their suitability as vehicle proprietors.

The decisions send a firm enforcement message to Torbay’s taxi trade. Operational pressure at a busy rank, competition for fares and the occupation of ranks by other vehicles will not be treated as defences when drivers knowingly over-rank after receiving council guidance or warnings.